WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT IT:

1.       Stand in front of a mirror with your child, pointing out your child’s traits and features as well as your own.  Thank and praise God for making your child so unique and precious.

2.       Celebrate special events in your child’s life such as Baptism, Confirmation, First Penance, First Holy Communion, Sunday school, and Church pageants.  Take photos of each event.  Make a photo album of your child titled “Child of God”.  Write comments about how God has blessed and protected your child throughout his/her life.  Read the albums to your child throughout his/her life, reminding your child of the graces present in these events and thanking God for them.   

3.       Talk about your child’s personal traits such as facial features, body size, and shape.  As you do, emphasize your child’s special and unique features as being gifts from God.

4.       Play the Bible Name Game with your child, thinking about Bible words that start with the same letter as your child’s name.

5.       Talk with your child about your child’s personal preferences for food, clothing, colors, books including Bible Stories, worship songs, places to visit, and so on.  Use everyday opportunities to do this, such as when you are eating, shopping, watching sports, traveling on the road, or going for a walk.     

6.       Together with your child, make a “Personal Preference Notebook”.  Cut out magazine pictures or write your child’s preferences for sports, foods, exercises, movies, books, holidays, Bible stories, saints, Scripture passages, and prayers. 

7.       Teach your child how God revealed Himself to His people over time and under different names throughout salvation history.  Make a time-line poster showing God’s names, when He revealed them and to whom (#203-221 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994).

8.       Discuss your child’s name; how you came to select it, how it is spelled, how it is pronounced, and how sacred it is.  Find information about your child’s patron saint.  Read Isaiah 43:1 and Proverbs 22:1.

9.       Choose one Scripture passage or verse to read to your child each week.  Begin even before your child is born and never stop reading Scripture to your child (Heb 4:12).  The spoken word of God is the most important way to let your child know who your child is in Christ Jesus.

10.   Play games with your child using mirrors.  Encourage the expression of preferences.  Emphasize your child’s name throughout the day, by speaking it and pointing to it in print.  Find the Biblical meaning of your child’s name. 

11.   Play name-games with your child. 

12.   Plan games, activities, and stories that emphasize and distinguish children’s gender, roles, and ethnic and cultural differences. 

13.   Make family photo albums with and for your child.  Learn how to scrapbook. 

14.   Sing songs about being a child of God.  Make up words to favorite, easy tunes.

15.   Teach your child that there is great power in the Holy Name of Jesus.  By repeating the name of Jesus as often as possible and with reverence and thought, your child will grow in his/her ability to overcome temptation and express emotions appropriately.

16.   Be proud to wear and/or display religious articles in your home.  A religious article is a "symbol" that identifies us as Christians continually reminding us who we are in Christ and of our eternal inheritance in heaven.

17.   The Sign of the Cross reminds us of the waters of our Baptism.  Teach your child to make the “Sign of the Cross” often throughout the day and at the beginning and end of prayers and worship.  Help your child understand that through Baptism, he/she belongs to God the Father, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us (#232-233; 1213-1274 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994).