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If you find yourself constantly trying to keep your child quiet, try giving her more important things to talk about. Discuss spiritual ideas, like God's love, and ask for her input to give her the chance to process these important spiritual concepts. After Sunday school or family devotions, ask her to give you a summary of what she's learned. Look for ways your child can use her voice without distracting others or being disruptive, such as volunteering to read the Bible story in Sunday school.

I had just finished a 45-minute presentation to a group of high school student leaders when one of the senior boys came up and proudly showed me a beautifully detailed picture he had drawn while I was talking. He saw me frown, and quickly explained, "If you ask me a question about anything you talked about, I can look at my picture and answer it. It's all in here." He went on, "All my life my teachers have told me to put my pen and paper down and look only at them. But if I can't draw or doodle, I can't remember what they say." If you have a child who is a visual learner, it doesn't simply mean he needs to see what he's learning in a book or on the chalkboard. He may need to make his own picture in order to remember what he's been told. You may want to encourage your visual child to highlight passages of Scripture in his Bible, draw a picture, or write notes in the margins of a workbook.

On any given Sunday, you can look over the church congregation and see parents trying in vain to keep their children quiet and still. The children seem restless and fidgety. But the fact is, many of us are born with the need to stay in almost constant motion, especially when we're bored. As adults, we've learned to move with a subtlety that doesn't distract others (adjusting our position, holding a pen or pencil, smoothing our hair, etc.). Most children have not yet learned the art of moving in ways that don't get them in trouble. If you have a child who is especially fidgety, he may be a kinesthetic learner. Help him move while he learns—he can squeeze a ball, tap a foot under the table, shoot hoops while he memorizes facts or Bible verses. If you ask your child about the Bible story you told him while you made cookies, he'll remember that you talked about the Israelites fleeing Pharaoh while he was vigorously mixing the batter. You may be amazed at what your restless youngster picks up when he seems busy doing something else.

Do you have a child who always seems to need more information? Questions like, How do you know? Where did you find that? Why are we doing it that way? can often be an indication of a naturally analytic mind. A child with an analytic nature tends to focus on specifics, and he automatically pays more attention to details than children with a more global, big picture, get-the-gist-of-things perspective. This can be especially challenging if you, as the parent, are not particularly tuned in to the analytic side of things. But the details that seem unimportant to you can be just what capture the attention of your child.

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