Olympic Gold Medalist Shares How She Introduces Her Kids to Faith
By Movieguide® Contributor
Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson East and her husband Andrew recently shared the importance of establishing a “cadence” in their kids’ daily relationship with faith.
“We have three kids,” Andrew said during an episode of the pair’s “Couple Things” podcast. “You age, you have more responsibilities thrown at you. It’s funny to look back and think about the process of learning to deal with whatever, and it happens one day at a time.”
He continued, “One kid was overwhelming, two kids felt overwhelming, and three — I just think that overwhelming feeling is subsiding, and now we’re like, ‘Oh, I think we’re able to handle this, so now it’s time to add something else on our plate, just to keep that feeling going.’”
The Olympian shared some of the ways she and her husband help each other out when they’re feeling overwhelmed, like “tap[ping] each other out” and “trying to find outlets” for any frustrations.
The couple also spoke about how they implement faith into their children’s everyday lives. Shawn and Andrew share Drew, 5, Jett, 3, and Barrett, 1.
Andrew mentioned Minno, a faith-based kids’ streaming platform.
“We connect families through media that creates shared faith experiences, supporting parents and grownups, and paving the way for enduring spiritual growth in children,” the platform’s website reads.
Andrew added, “We also, in our personal habits, we read daily devotionals every day,” and Shawn said the couple sent their kids to “a faith-based preschool” and “pray before every meal.”
“When it comes to sleeping, you start to see, developmentally, kids get fears — fears of the dark, fears of monsters,” she explained. “It’s just normal for their developmental phase. I have used that as a really good place to introduce faith to my kids, to put their fear in a manageable place that God can fix.”
Andrew continued, “I think we’re more, at this point, trying to show them certain cadences that we have, and establish cadences as a family, just so they know that that’s a part of the habits that we have, and so far, it’s worked. Right now, it’s just showing them there’s a cadence and there is a thoughtfulness behind it.”
“It feels like nothing spectacular or extraordinary, as far as how we’re introducing faith to [them], but it’s kind of constant,” he concluded.
Shawn and Andrew have previously spoken about what life is like now with three kids, with Shawn telling PEOPLE, “Three kids is a lot, but it is the greatest blessing ever. I mean, our little guy’s amazing. Our kids are in love with him. They couldn’t be better big siblings. It’s just been trying to figure out how to do three logistically [that] has been interesting, but a fun challenge.”
Shawn also revealed that the family might not be done growing just yet.
“I would love to adopt if we want to continue growing our family,” she said. “I do feel like we are a family that would love to do that. I don’t know if our family’s done growing, but I am pretty sure I’m done having kids.”
Movieguide® previously reported on how Shawn’s faith has grown as she’s become a mother:
Olympian Shawn Johnson East recently answered fans’ burning questions about her family and faith on her YouTube Channel.
“How has motherhood impacted our faith journey?” East read a question from a fan.
“It’s made it so much stronger,” she said. “I feel like before kids you feel like you get to a point in life where you feel like you can control everything. You can control most variables that affect your life, which isn’t leaning into your faith, and then you have children and realize you can’t control anything or rarely anything.”
“And like it’s all a miracle, and it’s all just like in God’s hands, and you have to either go crazy trying to control everything that you cannot control or lean into faith and let it all go to Him and use Him for strength,” she explained. “So it just caused me to be stronger in my faith that way.”
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