Parental conversations about something as fundamental as what to teach children about God should be held before marriage, especially if one or more of the parents have strong religious views.
If parents have substantially differing concepts of God, they have bigger issues to face in their children’s religious education than simply describing the significance of Christmas.
Since the principles embodied in the gospel of Jesus Christ are best taught by precept and example, the more a parent has experienced God in his or her own life the more effective he or she will be in helping a child understand that relationship.
Of Christmas specifically, parents in a Christian home aren’t left without guidance. The classic and timeless story in Luke Chapter 2 in the New Testament is still loved by children, and is read in countless homes as part of a Christmas Day tradition.
In my Latter-day Saint faith, the responsibility upon parents to teach their children principles of the gospel is scripturally mandated. That means that my wife and I taught our children as they were growing up that they were created as spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father, that He cares about them and how they live their lives and about what their ultimate destiny might be.
Instilling this concept of God as a Father who can be reached in a very personal way through prayer may be one of the most important things that a parent can do for a child.
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