BACK TO SCHOOL: Reading, Writing and Reaching ‘em for Christ

Penelope Allen White is an educator convinced that parents can amply equip their children for school: Teach them about God and show them how to pray.

As school doors open for the new academic year, parents can amply equip their children for academic excellence and amazing social experiences, as well as protect them from bullies, violence and all other dangers lurking in corridors, within classrooms and around campus.

That is the firm belief of Penelope Allen White. In fact, the educator said that since Christians profess that faith in God and his son Jesus secures all the resources needed for success, our children should be introduced to Christ and Christian principles as early as possible.

“It’s critical for them to know,” White insisted in a recent Zoom interview with Women of the Word (WOW). “It’s really a matter of life and death.”

White has published two books: “Children & Prayer: Is Prayer with Children an INTENTIONAL Discipline or Does IT Just Happen?” and “Monthly Educators’ Devotional: Water for thirsty teachers.”

She talked with WOW to offer a unique perspective on “back to school.”

A few years ago, the phrase “Back to School” sparked fear and apprehension among parents, children and educators concerned with the COVID-19 pandemic and pockets of school violence around the United States. The novel coronavirus has claimed more than 1 million lives since the first COVID-19 U.S. case was diagnosed in January 2020. Other research shows 169 people have been killed in school-related mass shootings in America since 1999 when two Colorado teens shot a teacher and 12 students at Columbine High School in Littleton.

As the 2022-2023 school year begins, “Back to School” today sparks optimism among school officials and families who welcome news of increased vaccinations and a ubiquitous flow of new medicines and vaccines. These high expectations come despite growing painful viral infections from monkeypox and new COVID mutations.

White said one goal of the educators’ book is to encourage teachers, administrators, school workers and support staff.

“And really now, they are almost like frontline workers,” said White, a wife and mother of two who taught English and worked as a counselor in the Fairfax County School System for 25 years. “They really are in dire situations. So, I think it’s incumbent upon us to encourage them, pray for them.”

White, said that “Children & Prayer” is an “instructive book written primarily to bring back to the forefront how important prayer is.”

“Children are taught many things and they can certainly be taught the principles of prayer,” she said. “It’s a discipline, just like brushing your teeth or going to your soccer practice. It is something that we have to be intentional about.”

White said that one way to move children in the direction of prayer is to introduce the concept of God in nature. Through nature, we see God’s work manifest itself in the life of a child, she explained.

Children “look around them. Observe. They look in the sky. They see the clouds, rain, flowers, animals,” she said. “They would begin to understand and comprehend that these things didn’t just happen; that there’s a creator of these things.”

White explained, “Once they have the concept of a creator, that this creator is someone they can know, someone they can have a personal relationship with and is not someone far off and aloof and uncaring but a character, a personality who loves and cares just as he takes care of these little animals, these little birds … they would just be aware. There would be a heightened awareness of the awesomeness of God and, of course, the fact that they can have a personal relationship.”

In teaching children about God and the importance of prayer, children rely on the relationship they have with parents, neighbors, friends, and others, she said.

“The relationship is an open door,” White noted. “So, if that child has someone in his or her life with whom they have a nurturing, a warm loving close relationship with, I think, they are going to be more receptive to hearing and receiving what that person tries to impart. If this is someone they trust, they’re going to hear what they say and believe it. If this is someone who has cared for them in a very special way, I think that’s going to help give an image of who this God is that this person is trying to introduce them to.”

On the other hand, White added, “it’s hard to communicate to anyone, particularly a child, something that you yourself do not believe, that it’s not real and genuine in your own life.”

The age of the child matters little when it comes to teaching them about God, White said.

“Children understand concepts at various ages,” White said. “I believe even the smallest child – a 5- or 6-month-old [can learn]. With the right environment, and with consistency, they learn to fold their hands, listen to [adults] and pray.”

White said that there are many creative ways to teach children to pray, including through songs, arts, and crafts. In addition, she said today’s technology also can assist in teaching children about prayers and praying.

“I think there’re just many, many opportunities that we can seize,” White said. “I think the time is right now. I think it’s critical, and of course, the benefit of it is that this child will be secure in knowing that [God] is bigger than [him or her]. And there is someone who can protect [him or her] and whose love goes the greatest length …”

White pointed to research that found a fetus in the mother’s womb listens to voices, conversations and all the noises around them. This knowledge should prompt parents to demonstrate the importance and need for prayer.

“We can be examples, first of all,” she said. “Praying ourselves and understanding the value of prayer, making that a priority. I think that’s something that can easily, in very, very tangible ways, be passed on to our children and to this next generation.”

White stressed that there are barriers or distractions that derail parents’ efforts to talk to their children about God and prayer.

“Well certainly the busy-ness, running hither and yonder,” she said. “I know that there are things that have to be done. I recognize that. But I believe we make time for what is important to us. If this is a priority, if it’s something that we truly value and believe, it’s going to be first on our list. If not, we are going to relegate it to the back burner …”

Children know when parents are not praying too, White said.

“I think children are very observant and they notice what we do, for example, in times of crises,” she said, quoting Luke 6: 45, “of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” “So, if we are stressed, if we are facing a crisis of some sort and there are many that happen in our world today … if a child never sees a response [from parents] of ‘let’s pray about it. Let’s see what God’s word says about it,’ that sends a very clear message to a child.”

The child looks at the response, White said, explaining that when there is a crisis or a need, responses can range from complaining, blaming others, or going into a rage.

“That says what our thinking is and our approach to crises might be,” she said.

White also acknowledged that prayer is a complex and often complicated concept. For example, a child may pray that a bully be removed from his classroom but he or she is not.

“If we have laid the foundation of what prayer is to that child, we can begin to build on all of their experiences – whether they are what we would call good, bad or indifferent,” she explained. “We can let them know that nothing happens to them that God is not aware of already. We can help them to understand that He [God] is always with us and that is his promise. He would never leave us or forsake us.”

“So, I think it’s kind of a building,” she continued. “We try to lay the foundation of who this God is, what his character is like, the fact that we can trust Him, and we can take everything to him, anything. He is interested. He is concerned and, of course, he already knows about it. He wants us to come to him, to humble ourselves, to acknowledge that we need him. We need his help.”

Even answered prayer can be complicated, White admitted.

Back to the bully story: “Every situation that we bring before God, the answer could come in many ways. If that child has been praying and has a foundation, hopefully, [he or she has] an understanding that God is working. Maybe the evidence is not that clearly before them, but deep down inside, there’s an awareness that he hasn’t left them.”

“Perhaps the answer may not be as we expect,” she continued. “Perhaps the child can see that ‘I can take some steps, that God is strengthening me, and I shouldn’t be so fearful.’ [Maybe awareness of the presence of God has] emboldened the child to talk to seek help from an adult, speak to a teachers and parents.”

Children can learn that they are “not operating in isolation,” White said. “’God is with me and has put people in my path; I am not by myself.’ Maybe the child would begin to say ‘this person needs prayer. It’s not just I need deliverance’ from the perpetrator.”

Once a child begins to reason in this way based on a developing relationship with God, White said “a different perspective develops.”

“God is going to protect us; he is always going to protect us,” she insisted. “He has countless ways to protect and shield. But he is also teaching us that we must follow those things that may not be the easiest, [like] praying for our enemies, praying for those who misuse us, praying for those who try to take advantage of us. That’s an aspect of prayer that we don’t readily want to embrace. But if we look at Christ, that was his lifestyle. That is exactly what he did.”

White isn’t the only parent and educator focusing on God and prayer this school year. The Washington Post recently featured a Miami-Dade school board member, Christi Fraga, who in May successfully proposed establishing an annual day of prayer in her district. And Florida passed a law in June 2021 that requires a moment of silence each day.

These are only a few examples of the momentum that came with a recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Washington state football coach who knelt in midfield to pray and was joined by student-athletes. In a 6-3 decision, the high court wrote that Bremerton High School assistant coach Joseph Kennedy’s prayers were protected by the Constitutions guarantees of free speech and religious exercise, and that the district was wrong to discipline him for what the majority of the justices saw as a private act.

White said she is certain many parents are talking about God with their children and teaching them to pray.

“I believe many are, yes,” she said emphatically. “Of course, there are many more who need to be. And we pray that they do. But yes, I do. I believe there are many conversations. I believe there are many teachings and much modeling. I believe there are people who believe God and are raising up a godly generation.”

Written by TMCH