Curiosity and Questions are a Good Thing! (Value #6)

I once worked at a church where a staff member expressed regret that she had let one of the kids help with tech, "because now, he's asking all these questions." This is a common mindset, that if kids have questions it either means the teacher wasn't clear or the students hadn't been paying attention.

But there's another way to think about questions: they're not a problem, but an open window.

When kids get curious about something, it doesn't mean we've failed. It means they're encountering something in a new way, and they suspect it's fascinating, or personally meaningful, or that there's more to it than they realized before.

Curiosity is related to wonder, and wonder is a key part of our spiritual consciousness. If we can't conceive of something bigger than ourselves, our faith will be pretty lifeless. We could know all the right answers, but our belief would lack fascination. God becomes pedestrian. A miracle worker, yes, but still ordinary.

So when kids begin asking questions, especially about God, that's a good thing! We often try to teach God exhaustively. The thinking goes that if we've taught something well enough, kids won't have any questions. And by extension, if kids aren't asking questions, it's a sign that we must have taught really well. But there are lots of reasons kids might be silent. They could be bored. They could be lost. They could be asleep. They could just be enduring it, because they know no adult can talk forever and they just want it to be over.

Instead, we should aim to teach just enough to whet kids' appetites, to get their minds going, to get them to begin asking questions. Kids have lots of questions about God - if we give them the chance to ask. And their questions create pathways to new understandings. But the worst thing we can do - beyond assuming that they're naturally un-curious - is to over-teach to the point where kids are so exhausted hearing us that they can't wait to think about other things. That instinct is understandable - we really, really want kids to get it. But you can push too far, where they just want you to stop talking, and then you've crushed that curious impulse that fuels spiritual growth. I've long believed that the chief weakness in published children's curriculum is that it's answering questions kids aren't asking! Not only that, but the answers they provide are so simplistic that they leave kids with the impression that Christianity isn't much worth thinking about.

A great resource is 801 Questions Kids Ask About God: With Answers from the Bible, not only because it answers some of their tougher questions, but because it reminds us that kids have questions - lots of them! - and that these questions matter and deserve to be addressed.