Children are always asking questions. Some-times they do it because they want their way. They ask, “Can I . . . ?” and when we say, “No,” they ask, “Why not?” Sometimes we have an answer: “Because that much candy will make you sick” or “Because worms make lousy pets.” Sometimes we don’t have an answer and we settle for “Because I said so” or the traditional appeal to parental authority—a tactic that makes perfect sense to parents but doesn’t work very well with kids.

Children also ask questions because they want to learn. Even then, our efforts to teach them can be “hit or miss.” Sometimes they’ll be totally fascinated and sometimes they’ll hardly pay attention. But when a child asks a question, she is in a teachable moment and really wants to know something new.

How do you get children to ask questions? How do you create teachable moments? Sometimes you can’t. The child must be the one who is interested. In some cases we can expose children to activities and experiences that will make them ask questions. Play games, go on hikes, take vacations—things you’ve heard about before. There is, however, one teaching tool you may have missed.

Joshua’s Teaching Moment

Take a look at this passage from Joshua:

And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground’” (4:20-22).

After the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, Joshua set up an altar which had one purpose: to create a visual opportunity for the teaching of children. When dads came walking by that place with their sons they probably wouldn’t even have to point and start explaining. Instead the boys would enter the teachable moment with a question: “Father, what are those rocks piled there for?” And then Dad could teach his boy about the time in years past, before either of them were born, when the entire nation of Israel entered the promised land on dry ground.

Teachable moments occur with visual stimulation. Joshua knew this, and he knew that future generations would only remember what had happened to the people of God at the Jordan by being told about it. Moments like this present themselves every time you sit in front of the television with your children.

When Questions Drive You Crazy

It really takes off around age 10, and from about 10 to 14 your kids drive you crazy with it. I’m talking about that time in their lives when they start asking questions as you’re watching television together. They can’t be quiet and you can’t watch the show. “Why did he do that?” “What does that word mean?” “I don’t understand what’s happening.” Sometimes their questions make you want to scream at your kids to be quiet and let you watch the show. But you know you can’t do that.

I’m speaking from personal experience, of course. I can still remember the day when it hit me that my son’s questions were like the question Jewish children would ask upon seeing the altar by the Jordan River. He was in a teachable moment. He had just raised a question about something he’s never been taught in school—something that may never even appear in the curriculum—and suddenly I had a chance to stop what I was doing and teach him something he wanted to know and might never learn in any other context. Once I realized that truth, I started treating my children differently.

In the case of a movie on DVD, I made use of the pause button. I stopped thinking about my own enjoyment and started teaching my kids all kinds of wonderful things. In the case of a television show I would answer if I could do so briefly or tell my kids to wait until the commercial for the answer. (I’d be sure to write down the question right then so I’d remember to answer.) My children have learned things about politics, medicine, history, geography, and the Bible by asking questions in front of the television—things they may have never wanted to learn in any other context. It worked because I made the decision to stop being annoyed, stop what I’m doing, and start answering their questions.

I have discovered an important teaching tool, one that hearkens back to a model laid in stone in the days of Joshua. All I have to do to make this tool work is take time to answer questions from little ones who, in that moment, really want to know. |L

Dr. Charlie Starr teaches English, Humanities, and Film at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky.

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November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
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November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
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August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
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April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
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October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
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