As a parent, you have the ability to teach your children to love the Yo Naram. You can help them understand that it’s a time of connection and forgiveness, preventing them from believing it’s a terrifying time or that Hashem is out to get them.” Chars VShalom
Use these suggestions to help your children (and yourself) experience Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur with sense of purpose, an awareness of Hashem’s love, and the belief that we all possess the ability to form a meaningful relationship with our Creator.
1 – Explain to your children that Hashem actively seeks ways to forgive, and they are on the path of teshuva-even if the best they can do right now is want to do teshuva
2 – Remind them that Yiddishkeit is not all-or-nothing-their overos do not invalidate their mitzvos or diminish Hashem’s love.
3 – Model personal growth by sharing your own goals to improve a particular mitzvah or middah. Suggest that they undertake a small goal too with reassurance that even the smallest degree of self-improvement is still significant growth.
4 – Encourage your children to recall something they regret and wish they could undo and explain to them that the Yormim Noraim present a special opportunity to erase anything they regret doing.
5 – Share your personal Hoshgacha Protis stories to demonstrate Hashem’s direct involvement in day-to-day life. Encourage them to focus on two or three things they truly appreciate as constant reminders of Hashem’s kindness.
6 – Sincerely ask your children for mechiliah to teach them that everyone makes mistakes and is equally worthy of being forgiven.
7 – Make a special effort to model Hashem’s middah of compassion and forgiveness in your interactions with your children, and use the opportunity to teach them that Hashem will use these same middos when judging them.
