Spiritual Characteristics of Older Preschoolers

Preschoolers learn what God is like through the interactions they have with the important adults in their lives, especially their parents. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 tells us that children’s spiritual development takes place not only in special places and at special times, but as we walk with children through the ordinary parts of each day.

• Preschoolers see rules as unchangeable and under the control of one who is powerful. This is good when it comes to understanding God and His instruction, but preschoolers are similar to Pharisees in that they see all rules as being equally rigid. As a result, they will argue about rules for games, social conventions within their family or arbitrary rules they have made up with the same determination they apply to biblical rules.

• They also expect immediate punishment for broken rules. Grace and mercy toward others is not a concept that is easy for preschoolers to understand.

• In addition, they believe the degree of wrong is determined by outcome of behavior rather than intention of behavior. For instance, a child who is helping the teacher and spills all the crayons is considered more wrong than a child who is trying to take a crayon away from another child and knocks two crayons on the floor.

• According to Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg, one of the leading researchers in moral development, most preschoolers understand morality based on punishment. (“If I do the wrong thing, I am bad and I will be punished.”) Around age 6, children begin to see morality in terms of reward. (“If I do the right thing I am good and I will be rewarded.”)

• During these years, children begin to identify moral imperatives as different from social conventions. They understand, for example, that hurting someone is a worse wrong than forgetting to say please or thank you.

• Dr. James Fowler studied faith development. His first work was done in a Christian setting. The first stage of faith recognizes God as powerful; it is heavily influenced by important adults in the child’s life. Inappropriate models of adult-child relationships may cause children to see God as someone to fear.

Teaching preschoolers provides us with many wonderful opportunities to share with parents in the process of bringing children to the Lord. Developmental processes in the lives of these children bring many challenges as we walk through this process. Knowing what we want to teach, as well as how the developing child is ready to learn, upheld by the power of God’s Spirit guiding us, bring us the wonderful blessing of sharing in the process of seeing God’s kingdom come, just Jesus prayed in the Lord’s Prayer.