An entire generation is walking away from God, but your child doesn’t have to. Here’s what you can do.

It’s no secret that the millennial generation (those born between 1980-2000) is not as religious as the generations before it. According to Pew Research, 36 percent of millennials are unaffiliated with religion and 17 percent do not believe in God at all.

Perhaps you have raised, or are raising, a millennial who falls in this camp and you are worried about him or her. Or perhaps your child is younger and you are worried his generation will be even less religious.

Regardless of where your child falls on the religious spectrum, I do believe teaching your child to have faith in God is important for many different reasons. Having faith in God affects your child’s self-esteem, relationships, and a chance for success in life. And, I don’t think these statistics about millennials should make us hopeless. Parents, you hold a lot of power in your child’s life—the power to give her faith in God or make her want to walk away from God. If you want to make sure you prevent the latter from happening, consider the following approaches when talking to your child—millennial or not—about God.

Practice what you preach.

In his book, Abandoned Faith: Why Millennials Are Walking Away and How You can Lead Them Home, Dr. Alex McFarland sites “lack of spiritual authenticity among adults” as one of the top ten reasons millennials are walking away from the church and religion. They find it hypocritical.

I say this about little kids all the time, but it is true for all children: More is caught than taught. This is especially true for faith and religion. If you say you are a Christian, but your child sees you gossiping about your neighbor all the time, how will she believe that Christians really do love their neighbors? She won’t. She’ll just think Christians are hypocrites.

Before you tell your child you want her to have faith, make sure you are modeling the faith you want her to have.