“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but…” most of us have realized that words can hurt too. While we as adults have matured and acquired to a greater or lesser degree an ability to weed out negative or hurtful language, we generally acknowledge that children are particularly susceptible to hurtful words. Language matters. We know that. We’ve all heard a child repeat something their parents surely didn’t intend to be repeated (sometimes even in the children’s sermon!). Those situations can range from humorous to awkward, but they sure do emphasize how much children hear, retain, and are influenced by the language around them. Overall, we as a society and as people of faith rightly put value on protecting children from language we deem negative, hurtful, or inappropriate. In the Church, we seek to nurture children in worship, expose them to the stories of our faith, and teach them the language of prayer from the start! These words of faith shape who our children become and how they grow to see God’s world. (click here for the rest of this article)