When a groundhog sees his shadow on February 2nd, he runs back inside his burrow, and we have 6 more weeks of winter. Or so the tradition goes. Supposably he is afraid of his shadow. Therefore, Groundhog’s Day is a great time to talk to our children about shadows and things that they might be afraid of too.

As a teacher, I used Groundhog’s Day as an opportunity to teach my students the science of shadows. I created a resource that provides spiritual, social, and academic growth from lessons surrounding the science and the nursery rhyme of Jack Be Nimble. In this downloadable book, Jack wants to jump over his shadow. He learns where shadows come from and discovers that it is impossible to jump over his. Aside from these lessons, there are three things to remember about shadows and how they connect to our fears.

1. Shadows are Not Three-Dimensional.

When a 3D object blocks the light, its shadow is a 2-dimensional figure. Our children’s fears may not exist within the dimension of reality.

• The most common fear that children have are:
• being alone
• the dark
• dogs or big animals
• bugs heights
• getting shots
• loud noises
• imaginary monsters

We must be sensitive to the idea that just because something is not a part of reality, it is still something that can cause fear in our children.

2. Shadows block the light.

Without a source of light, a shadow cannot exist. The Bible tells us that Jesus is light. (John 8:12; 9:5;12:46). A shadow forms because an object is blocking the light. Our fears are things that block out Jesus. We see a shadow or become scared because we have allowed something to block our view of Jesus. Whatever our children might be afraid of, we can help them see that Jesus, the light, can take it away.

3. It is the groundhog’s own shadow that scares him.

We can be the very thing that gets in the way of the light. We see our shadow if the light source is behind us. The same is true for our fears. Our fears go away by asking Christ to be in front and not behind us. We need to be in the habit of praying with our children before going to school or bed. Asking Jesus to go before them in any situation that they find scary.

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This blog was created by Dawn Stephens. Her passion is to help children grow the fruit of the Spirit.

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