Kelsey Reed - Conversations in cars with kids

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 6th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming up next, WORLD’s Kelsey Reed, our news coach for families with young students.

She has this encouragement for families doing road trips this summer.

KELSEY REED, NEWS COACH: I love car rides with my kids. I find they provide space and time for discipleship. Don’t get me wrong: we work on good conversations and good manners around the dinner table. We talk after movies or while reading books. But the best conversations often happen in the car: everyone buckled in…nowhere else to go.

My parents were missionaries and church planters. I traveled a ton as a kid. When I was young, we didn’t have the tech of this generation. So, we found other ways to pass the time. The long journey slowed us down. A trip was a chance for thinking instead of doing.

More importantly, it was a time for relationship. A time for exploration and curiosity. In the car, my parents were as much a captive audience as we were. They observed the world with us. They welcomed our questions and asked their own. This modeled a conversational method I learned to prize…and later apply.

Now with my own family, we try to push back the pacifier of technology. This can be particularly difficult on the road - yet so worthwhile.

AUDIO: [Car convo]

The road-trip conversations we’ve had with our children are as wide-ranging as our destinations. Their responses to a podcast. Our discussion of a favorite audiobook. Even analysis of the music we choose. “What do the words mean? When was it written? What made it so popular?”

As we talk, my daughters are developing their curiosity about the world. At the same time, they are developing their worldview. As they grow, their questions mature as well.

AUDIO: [Car convo]

At God’s WORLD News we use three key words to describe our discipleship materials: discovery, exploration, and discernment. We want to encourage a child’s natural curiosity. To delight in their questions.

When we ask questions and cultivate question-asking, we promote not only curiosity but critical thinking. We want to discover and discern—not merely absorb. What is true? What is good? What is lovely? How do we know?

In a journalistic enterprise, question-asking is at the heart of our process. They help us build a complete story. They provide self-examination for the story-teller. They are the tools we need to discern the story behind the stories.

As my family hits the road. The rhythm of the highway soothes us. The melody of conversation washes over us. We reiterate foundational truths. We reinforce the bond. Together we engage the stories of the world, and revel in the beauty of His story—all from the seats of our mobile classroom—the family car.

I’m Kelsey Reed.

MUSIC: [LIFE IS A HIGHWAY by RASCAL FLATTS]

REICHARD: To find out more about our God’s WORLD News publications for children and to read more from Kelsey, visit gwnews.com.

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