Child Training Bible Review + Giveaway!
My oldest, Reaghan, is 4 years old and at such a precious point in her faith. As she starts to ask more questions about the deep things of God, I wanted a system in place to bring her to the word often and consistently when disciplining her. I found myself faced all day long with these big issues. I'd think "wow, she's being selfish right now," or "she's not understanding how the gospel allows her to die to her own preferences and love her brother in this instance." I know the Bible, but it's rare that a verse that directly applies to what she needs in that moment comes to mind right then and there. I needed something to prompt me - something ready for me to address these issues of the heart that bubble to the surface all day long as a child.
Times of discipline can be so hard as a parent. I often left those times feeling defeated, like there was more I wanted to share but couldn't think of in the moment, and a little helpless in making headway with Reaghan not only on her behavior, but in her understanding of how the gospel applies to the struggles of her day to day.
By God's grace and providence, one of my sweet customers shared about the Child Training Bible with me. When I researched their site and saw how simple and gospel-rich it was, I knew it was the perfect solution to our times of discipline. The CTB is a tabbing system that helps you to highlight certain verses that deal with an issue of sin in your Bible. Having these verses color coded, highlighted and tabbed is helpful to quickly look at the CTB chart, and turn to the verse that will help your child in that situation.
One aspect of the CTB that I like is that it is repetitive, which is great for little ones. We use all the issues, but I'd say the biggest "issues" we read about the most in the CTB are: anger, quarreling, selfishness, and tattling. Going back over the verses that relate to those issues is helpful because the more we repeat things, the more they stick in our minds and hearts. This is crucial for little ones just beginning to grasp Biblical truth.
SETTING UP MY CTB
Honestly, setting up all the tabs did take some time to put together. Not necessarily because it's overwhelming or time consuming, but because so many other things just seem to get in the way during the day. When I sat down to actually get it done, adding the tabs went quickly. I encourage you all to watch their how-to video to see how it's done. It looks complicated at first, but it's actually very straight forward. Also, if you read this post when it goes live, I'll be explaining how I set mine up on my instagram stories this week!
To create my CTB, I used an old Bible I had (lots of previous notes and markings in it from when I used it daily). Since I recently bought a new Bible to use daily, this one was perfect to make our "family Bible." I just used my kids colored pencils and crayons for highlighting the verses, and bought some post-it tabs from the grocery store. You'll need two sets of primary colors and two sets of neon colors. Links to the exact ones are on the CTB supplies page!
HOW I USE MY CTB
After a meltdown, sibling squabble, or persistent issue I notice throughout the day, I'll take Reaghan aside and ask if we can spend some time looking at what God's word has to say about XYZ issue.
I take out my master tab list and flip to the pages marked for that issue. Let's use anger as an example. The first few verses are geared toward the "negative" - how sinful anger can be destructive. The last few verses are geared towards the "positive" - instructing on how we should handle the anger in our lives. On the back of the tab list page are some heart-focused questions to probe your child to think further about themselves in this sin issue, a verse and question to look at Jesus in this issue (was Jesus ever angry? Did He sin in His anger? How did He handle it?) and a prayer to pray with your child to close out your time in the word together. I have found this format so helpful. It reveals the child's sin, shows how Jesus was perfect and set apart, and shows that because of the gospel we can have freedom to obey Him.
I love this resource. It's gospel-focused and intensely practical. I think this resource would be perfect to start at age 3 if you are wanting a conversation to come out of it with your child. If you are just wanting to memorize scripture or read to them, you could even begin at 2 or earlier! I totally envision this as a tool we use years into the future, even into our kids adolescence. Since this is a "family Bible" that lives in our kitchen, the kids can come to it anytime when they are older to look up an issue they are having and how the Bible addresses it.
GIVEAWAY!
Win a Child Training Bible Chart Set!
Join my newsletter for monthly encouragement in Biblical hospitality, meal planning, motherhood, and seasonal living. I will choose a winner on Friday March 16th from my newsletter subscribers. If you're already a subscriber, you're already entered to win!
UPDATE: GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. WINNER HAS BEEN CONTACTED VIA EMAIL! :)
The giveaway is for one CTB Chart Set. You will need to buy highlighters (or use colored pencils like I did!) and your post-it tabs separately.
I received the Child Training Bible chart set as a gift in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and I only share products that I think you would love and benefit from.