Have you ever found yourself saying “because I said so”, or “because I am the parent.”? If there was a meter that counted the times that I said this in my house to my almost 2 and 3 year old, I would probably be pretty embarrassed. I always said, I am never going to be the kind of parent that doesn’t take the time to explain why I am “saying so” or justifies my actions by saying that “I am the adult”, but I find myself doing it more often than I will admit. Honestly, the best parental plans are usually somewhat foiled by reality.
In reality though, if I was to sit here and explain the rationalization for every single one of my decisions to my kids at the age that they are, then I would be explaining the full day away and would never get anything else done. Kids are naturally inquisitive. They LONG to know all about the world, why we do this and that and why… why…. WHY…. Maybe though, we should take a book from our kids- maybe we should be naturally inquisitive too.
Jesus loves kids. In Matthew 19:14 “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” In Matthew 18:2-4 “He called a little child and hand him stand among them. And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
These aren’t the only verses that say that we are to become like little children, that we are to act like them. Children are amazing – kids just grow everyday and they are constantly seeking more knowledge and information. Kids have fun with just about everything that they do – they make it fun even if it is an un-fun task that they are going through (like an 8 hour car ride…). Now this also says like the “little children”, not a teenager!
Children know that they trust their parents and when they say to do something, they will do it- even if they asked questions about it in the first place. More often than not the “because I said so” works wonders on the kid. When God, our Heavenly Father, tells us to do something, we often times question Him, but ultimately we need to follow what he says because HE SAID SO!!!
Have you ever found yourself agreeing to something, even though you didn’t know all the ins and outs of the thing that you were agreeing to? We agree to support a political candidate or even to vote for them, but often we don’t know their full story, what they believe in. We agree to send out kids to school, or let them sit in on a presentation, but we don’t know what is going to be taught there. We often agree to thing that will happen to us before we have all the details involved in it.
We also need to be aware of what we are exposing ourselves to and other Christians to. Children are sponges, they say and do what they have seen and heard. My 3 year old sits and corrects the TV when we watch it together. She sits and says “that is a bad word”, “we don’t say that word”, “they should say it this way instead”. (She is too smart!) We make it a point that every time we hear a bad word, or words that we would consider bad coming from her little mouth, like “shut-up”, we clarify that we don’t say that word.
We need to find Godly examples to teach us how to do things as a Christian. Even if I am the most seasoned veteran Christian that I know, I still need to seek spiritual companionship (preferably with someone of the same gender) and leadership. God has put these people in place at the churches that we attend. The Pastors and their wives, the deacons or elders at your church. These are people that we can turn to when we have a question about Christianity. These are the spiritual older sisters and brothers that we will be using as our guides and examples.
So in conclusion kids are amazing. Just sit and watch a kid for a day, the things that they do, say, ask about – it is awesome! We need to be like a child, inquisitive, obedient (ultimately), fun loving and a sponge to absorb the good things that God has to offer to us through the Bible and our spiritual leaders.
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