Our Responsibility Toward Jehovah

Teaching children to love God also requires regular reading and study of his Word. With this in mind, we had a family study each week, mostly on Monday evenings. Since the oldest and the youngest were born nine years apart, the children had very different needs, so we could not always cover the same material with all of them.

For example, for the children of preschool age, we kept the instruction fairly basic. Karla considered just a single Bible text with them, or she used the pictures in Bible-based publications. I still have fond memories of being awakened early in the morning by the younger children climbing into our bed to show us their favorite pictures in the book The New World.a

Karla developed a knack for patiently teaching the children the many reasons we all have to love Jehovah. That may sound simple and straightforward, but, in fact, physically and emotionally it was almost a full-time job for both Karla and me. Still, we did not give up. We wanted to write upon their tender hearts before other people who did not know Jehovah started to influence them. For this reason we insisted that our children be present for the family study as soon as they could sit.

Giving the Children the Attention They Needed

Of course, things did not always go smoothly. As the children grew, we discovered that implanting love in their hearts required us to know what was in their hearts already. That meant listening to them. Our children sometimes felt that they had something to complain about, so Karla and I would sit down and talk things over with them. We introduced a special half hour at the end of the family study. Anyone was allowed to say quite openly whatever he or she felt.

For instance, Thomas and Gabriele, our two youngest, felt that we as parents were showing favoritism toward their eldest brother. At one session, they spoke up and said: “Dad, we think that Mom and you always let Hans Werner have his way.” At first, I could hardly believe my ears. However, after considering the matter objectively, Karla and I had to admit that the children had a point. So we put more effort into treating all the children the same.