Adaptability

Baby, we were made for change

Drama / Role play

Dress up like a baby and have your kids care for your needs!

Discussion point: Change is part of life, and some changes, like growing up, are necessary.

First, assemble a box of clothing and accessories and let your children dress up as mom or dad.

Next, dress yourself up and pretend you are a baby, or have your spouse or another adult play the baby role.

Talk “baby talk” while your kids:

  • feed you a bottle or spoon feed you applesauce
  • “burb out” your tummy gas
  • prop you up when sitting on the couch so you don’t topple over
  • change your “diaper” (a towel around your waist)
  • change your bedcovers
  • read books to you
  • try to teach you simple words
  • rock you to sleep.

Use the questions for discussion to help your children think about all the ways a baby changes during their first few years of life. (Starting out drinking milk, then slowly learning to eat soft food from a spoon, then growing teeth and learning to chew food; learning to roll over, crawl, sit up, stand up, walk, run, talk; learning to use a potty.)

After your discussion, emphasize to your kids that God means for all of us to grow and change, and although change is not always comfortable, it is a necessary part of growing up.

Close the lesson by thanking God for planning families where parents take care of their kids, teaching them everything they need to know until they are all grown up and ready to live on their own.

Questions for discussion
  1. What are some of the things a baby learns to do in the first few years of life?
  2. Did you like it when Mom/Dad acted like a baby? Why or why not?
  3. Did you enjoy being the parent?
  4. What would the world be like if no one ever grew up?
  5. What do you think is the hardest part about growing up?
  6. What do you most look forward to about being grown up?
  7. In Deuteronomy 6:4-7, what does the Bible say parents should teach their children?

Note: To extend this activity, find some books or movies that show animals caring for and training their young.

Relevant Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”