Sing With Your Kids

Many Christian dads know in their heads the importance of establishing a regular time of family worship. In fact, if you’re actually reading this Growing Fathers article, you’re in all likelihood one of those dads.

The how-to, however, is sometimes more nebulous. If you’re looking for the simplest explanation and how-to on the topic, I highly recommend Donald Whitney’s Family Worship. A truly miniscule but immensely practical book, it lays out the “what” of family worship this way: read, pray, and sing.

The last of these is my encouragement to you, “Christian dad: Sing with your kids. Why?

It’s a mark of a Spirit-filled, Word-filled believer.

According to the apostle Paul, the Word-filling and Spirit-controlling of a believer looks, among other things, like singing (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:18-19). Godly dads in their local churches sing. They affirm God’s truth with and to their church family in song.

It’s an outlet for your response to God.

God created you with the ability to express yourself to Him and others through musical communication. And it’s good for your kids to see you responding to God and His truth. In the worship service, in the car, in your family devotions on the couch. It’s one of many ways for your kids to observe that “Dad loves God.”

It normalizes singing for your kids.

Further, it helps normalize singing for your kids when they see you do it. Your keeping a musically and emotionally “stiff upper lip” can be unhelpful for them. Within your personality, it’s okay to be strong and also emotionally express yourself and affirm truth with conviction.¹

It catechizes your children in the truth.

“Nationwide….” Could you finish it? Truth in song is remembered long. The power of music to etch a text in your memory is a good gift from God, and you ought to steward it well. You as a Christian dad should employ music’s power to “teach [God’s words] diligently to your children” all the time (Deut. 6:7).

It’s not rocket science.

For your family worship, you could pick a hymn or song for the week. Maybe pick one from your worship service on Sunday. Google it to have the text (or just buy the church’s hymnal). Sing one stanza the first night and add as you go.

If you have younger kids, throw in some motions. When our first child was around 2 years old, she learned “I Sing the Mighty Power of God” (originally written by Isaac Watts for children). And we didn’t formally teach it to her; we just sang it every night, threw in a few motions, and she got it.

It requires no musical training.

Sorry, if you’re looking for the Bible verse that excuses those whose tunes fall out of their buckets, you’re not in luck. Please don’t be worried about the quality of your singing. The apostle Paul wasn’t. He was just concerned that it was happening.

Sure, if you have vocal or instrumental skills in your family, steward them well. That your children see and hear you singing to God on purpose is much more important than you singing on key.

“If Moses, David, and even Jesus Christ sang, it is a manly thing to do, a God-fearing thing to do, and a Christian thing to do.”² So, sing with your kids.

Dad’s evident, joyful, sincere affirmation of God’s truth through singing is a legacy every child needs.