Ages 4 to 6

How Your Child May Be Developing Spiritually

• Has an active imagination and is open to the supernatural.
• May say insightful or profound things about God, the world, and life.
• Responds to concrete stories, symbols, and experiences.
• Tends to be a black-and-white thinker.
• Begins to use the religious or spiritual language of the family.

• Satisfaction when your child expresses spiritual insights consistent with your beliefs.
• Openness by your child to spiritual beliefs, stories, and practices.
• Comments by your child about spiritual or religious concepts that may or may not fit with your beliefs or with reality.
• Some resistance from the child who starts to become more independent and begins to ask questions.

• Give your child more ways to participate in family spiritual practices as he or she is able.
• Use concrete stories, games, and crafts to introduce the family’s beliefs and practices.
• Accept your child’s interpretation of spiritual or religious concepts, asking her or him questions about them rather than correcting or judging.
• Encourage questions about the world, life, death, and other spiritual matters.
• Ask young children to draw pictures to express what they experience and believe.