Deuteronomy 6:7 reads, “You shall teach [the words of God] 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.”
Thinking on how we and our children learn, I came across the Decision Lab’s article on how we tend to retain information. The article explained the “Spacing Effect.” According to this study and others, “By repeating and spacing out the information that individuals learn, [we] can better recall that information in the future.”
The 2012 study by Haley Vlach and Catherine Sandhofer, which focused specifically on elementary children, determined children are more able to retain and apply lessons when repeated and spaced apart.
Interestingly, the Christian Standard Bible translates the first line of Deuteronomy 6:7 as “repeat” — that is, repeat God’s statutes, rules and commands to love to your children. Repeat them when you sit in your house, when you walk, when you lie down, and when you rise. The study opts for weekly repetition, but the concept is a biblical one.
As parents, we often feel rushed to teach our children the next thing — and if we could only get creative with it, we could teach them that thing now. We could teach them kindness, obedience or salvation.
Deuteronomy 6 reminds us that our duty to teach is simply a duty to repeat all the things God has done for us over and over. I don’t need to tell a new story each night. God’s written the story for us already. I also don’t need to share the whole story tonight. That probably won’t work anyway. As life unfolds, we are called to repeat what God has for us to our children. Repeat, rest, repeat.
Click here to hear me walk through this article on YouTube.
