Raising a child is one of life’s biggest adventures and most important jobs. In a busy world full of different messages, many parents wonder: How can I teach my child what truly matters? For Christian families, this starts with building a foundation of faith and character.
This guide will walk you through the core Christian values to teach your child that can help them grow into a kind, confident, and caring person. These values are like a compass—they help guide us through life’s choices, big and small.
Why Teaching Values Early Matters
Children are like sponges; they soak up everything around them. The lessons they learn when they are young shape the adults they will become. Beginning early with the core Christian values to teach your child provides a framework for their entire worldview.
- Building a Strong Foundation: Teaching values early gives your child a solid base to stand on. When they face challenges or tough choices later in life, this foundation will help them know what is right.
- Statistics Show: Research from organizations like the Barna Group shows that a majority of people who hold a faith as adults say their beliefs were formed during their childhood. One study suggests that the first 14 years are the most critical for spiritual development.
The good news? You don’t need to be a perfect parent or a Bible expert. You just need love, patience, and a willingness to learn alongside your child.
8 Essential Christian Values to Teach Your Child
Here are eight key Christian values to teach your child to focus on, with simple ways to bring them to life in your home.
1. Love: The Most Important Value
The Bible says love is the greatest virtue of all (1 Corinthians 13:13). But this isn’t just about feeling affection. It’s about showing care and kindness to others, even when it’s hard. This is the cornerstone of all Christian values to teach your child.
- What it looks like for a child: Sharing toys, using kind words, giving a hug to a friend who is sad, helping a sibling.
- How to teach it:
- Model it: Let your child see you showing love to your partner, your friends, and them. Say “I love you” often.
- Talk about it: Ask, “How did we show love today?” at the dinner table.
- Simple Action: Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 together and replace the word “love” with your child’s name. “Sarah is patient, Sarah is kind…” Talk about what that means.
2. Kindness & Compassion
This value is love in action. It means seeing someone who needs help and doing something about it. It’s feeling for others and wanting to make things better. Instilling compassion is a fundamental part of the Christian values to teach your child.
- What it looks like for a child: Comforting a crying classmate, making a “get well” card for a grandparent, helping you carry groceries.
- How to teach it:
- Point it out: When you see someone being kind in a movie or at the park, say, “That was so kind of them!”
- Practice it: Bake cookies for a neighbor together or donate old toys to a shelter. Let them be part of the act of giving.
- Simple Action: Use the “Golden Rule” as a family motto: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).
3. Honesty & Integrity
Honesty is about telling the truth. Integrity is about being truthful, even when no one is watching. It’s about doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, not because you might get in trouble. As you consider the Christian values to teach your child, integrity provides a moral backbone for all others.
- What it looks like for a child: Admitting they broke a vase, not cheating during a board game, returning a lost pencil to a teacher.
- How to teach it:
- Praise honesty: If your child tells the truth about something they did wrong, first thank them for their honesty before you address the mistake. This makes them more likely to tell the truth next time.
- Be a role model: Model integrity by keeping your promises to them.
- Simple Action: Share stories about trustworthy people from the Bible, like Daniel.
4. Forgiveness
Holding onto anger and hurt is like carrying a heavy backpack everywhere you go. Forgiveness is putting that backpack down. It doesn’t mean what happened was okay; it means we choose to let go of the anger. This challenging but crucial Christian value to teach your child brings immense freedom and peace.
- What it looks like for a child: Making up with a friend after an argument, not holding a grudge against a sibling.
- How to teach it:
- Talk about feelings: Help your child name their feelings: “It looks like you’re feeling hurt because your friend didn’t share. That’s okay to feel.”
- Practice it yourself: Apologize to your child when you make a mistake. Say, “I’m sorry I yelled. Will you forgive me?” This is incredibly powerful.
- Simple Action: Pray together for people who have hurt them, asking God to help them forgive. The American Psychological Association has resources on the benefits of forgiveness for mental health.
5. Thankfulness & Gratitude
Thankfulness is more than just saying “thank you.” It’s an attitude of noticing and appreciating all the good things in our lives, big and small. The Bible tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Gratitude is a joyful Christian value to teach your child that fights entitlement.
- What it looks like for a child: Saying what they are thankful for before a meal, writing a thank-you note for a gift, appreciating a sunny day.
- How to teach it:
- Gratitude Jar: Start a family gratitude jar. Each day, everyone writes one thing they’re thankful for on a slip of paper and puts it in. Read them together on New Year’s Eve.
- Lead by example: Verbally point out things you are grateful for. “I’m so thankful we have this yummy food to eat.”
- Simple Action: Make thankfulness a part of your bedtime prayer routine. Organizations like Focus on the Family offer practical tips for cultivating gratitude in children.
6. Respect
Respect means treating other people, their property, and yourself as valuable. It starts with understanding that every person is made in the image of God and is worthy of dignity. This Christian value to teach your child is essential for healthy relationships at home, school, and eventually, work.
- What it looks like for a child: Listening when others are talking, not interrupting, taking care of their belongings, using good manners.
- How to teach it:
- Set clear expectations: “In our family, we speak respectfully to each other.”
- Respect them: Show respect for your child by listening to their ideas and knocking before entering their room. They learn how to give respect by receiving it.
- Simple Action: Talk about showing respect to authority figures like teachers, coaches, and police officers.
7. Patience & Self-Control
Patience is waiting calmly without getting angry or upset. Self-control is thinking before you act. These values help children manage their big feelings and make better decisions. In our fast-paced world, these Christian values to teach your child are more important than ever.
- What it looks like for a child: Waiting for their turn on the swings, not grabbing a toy, walking away when they feel angry.
- How to teach it:
- Name the value: Use the words “patience” and “self-control” often. “I need you to use your patience while I finish this phone call.”
- Provide tools: Teach them simple techniques like taking three deep breaths or counting to ten when they feel frustrated. The Child Mind Institute provides excellent strategies for teaching anger management and self-control.
- Simple Action: Play games that require taking turns. This is a fun, natural way to practice patience.
8. Faith & Hope
Faith is trusting in God even when you can’t see the whole plan. Hope is a confident expectation that God is good and has good things for us. This value gives children peace and courage, especially during scary or uncertain times. Ultimately, this is the goal of all Christian values to teach your child: to know and trust God.
- What it looks like for a child: Praying about a worry, trusting that a new school year will be good, believing God loves them.
- How to teach it:
- Share stories: Read Bible stories about God’s faithfulness, like Noah building the ark or David and Goliath. You can find age-appropriate stories on The Jesus Storybook Bible website.
- Pray together: Pray about everything—big fears and small thanks. This shows them God is involved in every part of life.
- Simple Action: Memorize a simple, hopeful Bible verse together, like Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Making Values Stick: Simple Tips for Busy Parents
You don’t need a formal lesson plan. The best teaching happens in everyday moments. Consistently weaving in these Christian values to teach your child through daily life is the most effective method.
- Live Them Out: Your example is your most powerful teaching tool. Your children are watching how you handle stress, treat others, and practice your faith.
- Talk About Them: Have casual conversations. Connect values to things you see in movies, books, or daily life. “Was that character being honest? How did it help?”
- Use Resources: Read children’s Bibles, watch faith-based shows, and listen to music that reinforces these values. Minno Kids is a great resource for faith-based media.
- Make it a Family Affair: Decide as a family which values are most important to you. Work on them together and cheer each other on.
- Give Grace: No parent is perfect. No child is perfect. There will be bad days. Apologize, forgive, and try again tomorrow. That itself is a powerful lesson in grace. Parent Cue offers excellent weekly cues for engaging with your kids on these topics.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: My child is asking tough questions about God that I don’t know how to answer. What should I do?
A: That’s okay! It’s a sign they are thinking deeply. It’s perfectly fine to say, “That’s a great question. I’m not sure of the answer. Let’s find out together.” Look up the answer in a child-friendly Bible or ask your pastor. This shows them that learning about faith is a lifelong journey. Got Questions Ministries is a fantastic, biblically-based resource for finding answers.
Q: How do I handle it when my child’s values are different from their friends’ values?
A: Use it as a teaching moment, not a criticizing one. Talk about why your family has chosen your values. Say, “In our family, we believe in being honest because…” This helps them understand the “why” behind the rule, which is stronger than just saying “because I said so.”
Q: What if I’m not a perfect Christian? How can I teach these values?
A: You don’t have to be perfect! In fact, showing your child how you handle your own mistakes—by apologizing, asking for forgiveness, and trying again—is one of the most powerful lessons in grace, humility, and integrity you can ever teach. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) emphasizes the importance of self-care and grace for parents, which is crucial for modeling healthy behavior.
Q: At what age should I start teaching these values?
A: Start right away! Even toddlers can understand simple concepts like sharing (kindness), saying “please” and “thank you” (respect/gratitude), and waiting for a turn (patience). The lessons grow and get deeper as your child gets older. Zero to Three, a resource on early development, confirms that social-emotional learning begins in infancy.
Conclusion: It’s a Journey, Not a Race
Teaching Christian values to teach your child isn’t about checking items off a list. It’s a slow, beautiful, and sometimes messy process of planting seeds and watching them grow. Your goal isn’t to raise a perfect child, but to guide a child who knows they are loved by God and who wants to share that love with the world through their actions.
Be patient with yourself and with your child. Celebrate the small victories. A hug given, a truth told, a “thank you” said from the heart—these are all signs that those important Christian values to teach your child are taking root, building a strong foundation for a life of faith and character.
About the Author: This article was crafted by a team dedicated to providing helpful, family-friendly content based on established principles of child development and Christian faith. Our goal is to support parents with practical, trustworthy, and actionable advice that stands the test of time. We rely on authoritative sources like the American Academy of Pediatrics for child development guidelines to ensure our information is accurate and helpful.
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