Sherid,
I am sorry I did not get back to you sooner about this question - one that you PM's me about...so I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
First off, a five year old is too young [as a rule] to understand salvation. What you need to do is teach her, tell her the Bible stories. Discuss them when you lie down, when you walk by the way (OT advice given by God found in the law). Talk about them like you do anything else. Make a discussion of Bible things common, normal, usual like anything you else you talk about. The goal is to get her to admire God, to see his majesty.
You can begin by teaching her about God's creation. When you go outside at night you can look at the stars and talk about them, how God made them. Or, how about birds or any other creature in nature. Emphasize to her how God made these and teach her some important amazing scientific fact about it. Talk about it - many times, whet her curiosity - children usually have plenty but do not force it.
Did you read my post on "Bill of Rights" for children? Read it. Check out John Rosemond's website - he has a lot of excellent advice for parents.
Rosemond teaches how a parent must take control, you must set the pace, not allow the child to set the tone and pace in the home. And you must not tolerate any challenges to your authority. Challenging your authority is normal in parenting but your parenting must not be characterized by begging, pleading, asking your child to obey you. You tell the child what you want in a matter-of-fact way where he/she will know exactly what you mean and know that you expect prompt obedience. If have to tell the child three times the child should know punishment is forthcoming. The second time can be justified because she may not have understood it the first time. But with the second time there should be no doubt in her mind what you want and if willful disobedience follows, a spanking will be in order, not a beating but her behind has plenty of padding and that is where punishment needs to be administered. (I spanked and so do our children to theirs.)
A child also needs plenty of playtime, time spent in imaginative play. Play encourages creativity.
(We had four boys and they had toy tractors, wagons, dump trucks, etc. They used to play in the sandbox until the cats started burying their deposits in it. So they used the back yard. They built roads, long roads - messed up the yard royally. But they grew up and when this play became history, I repaired it. I believed this creative play was of much more importance then having a beautiful back yard. Today these boys speak fondly of how much fun they had building these roads. We also had lots of trees and each one built a tree house in them...Today our boys are all gainfully employed, have insights on how things work and can be fixed.)
You said your daughter is an only child. I was one for five years and I promise you being an only child means she likely is lonely. I was so my playmates became the animals we had on the farm. They consisted of a lamb, a pigeon, cats, dogs, New Zealand white rabbits, ducks....I have fond memories of playing with these animals. Because of my experience with them, our children tamed animals as well, including calves, pigs, a horse, raccoon, dogs, cats....I prohibited snakes. They even tried to tame an opossum and a squirrel but they did not cooperate well.
I would encourage you to quit pressuring her to do something which she does not understand. The incidences of five-year-olds understanding salvation is rare. Just back off and concentrate on teaching obedience, telling her Bible stories and allow plenty of play time.
This is all I can think of now. Later I will see if I can find an article written by John Rosemond that I read in church paper last week and if I find it I will post the link here. AND if I think of something else, I will post more.
If you have any questions, just ask....
Wishing you the best...
ginnyrose
