Kids are sponges, right? We all say this once our babies get
to a certain age where they start to mimic things we say or do, whether we are
proud of what we did or not. And it’s a pretty young age… like 1-2? When I got
to this point, I started having to censor some of the words I used… Not that
anything I said was “bad” or “sinful”, but just not appropriate for a
2-year-old to be saying!
Yesterday I shared from Deuteronomy 6, about how we are to
have a “lifestyle” kind of parenting, one that is intentional and makes the
most of every opportunity to share about God and His Word. We are commanded to
“impress” on our children the Lord’s commands and our love for Him! If we
really take this command seriously and impart spiritual things to our kids
constantly and informally, purposefully and Biblically, than it’s pretty likely
that our toddlers are going to soak it up! They are at the age where everything
is “impressing” them! Whether it gets repeated or not, they are still being
influenced!
There are two sides to this!
Spirituality aside, everything in our homes, our
habits and conversations are being observed and filtered through their young,
impressionable, formative minds. Are we evaluating the types of things in
our lives that are “impressing” our children? We may not give much thought to our music
library, what’s currently showing on the TV (like commercials), or a
conversation we’re having, but our toddlers are taking it all in!
I’ve recently been trying to be more constantly aware of
what’s on TV when we have it on. It’s football season, so most weekends now,
the TV’s on. Titus loves to watch football with his dad, so he’s usually around.
Well, when the programming goes off, we mentally just tune out during
commercials. Well, Titus doesn’t tune out! And he is very sensitive to “scary”
things. For some reason, the channels we watch seem to always show previews for
the latest horror movie! (Grrr! It makes me so mad!) Last week, Titus ran to my
husband Tim, with his eyes covered saying, “Daddy! Save my eyes!” It was kindof
humorous in the moment, but it’s such a reminder that we are responsible for
the things he is exposed to at this age, and we have to be so careful of what
we allow into our own lives because it affects him too! It means that we’ve had
to make some changes to our lifestyle for the sake of our ever-aware toddler!
Then spiritually speaking... While we are cautious of the things in our environments that we allow our kids to be exposed to, we also decide what things we want what we want them to be influenced by, and intentionally find ways to teach and expose them to those things. We protect their sponge-like minds and hearts from harm, but we also pour wholesome and spiritual things into their lives so that's what they soak up!
Through writing this on this topic, it's been so encouraging to connect with other moms who desire the same things when it comes to raising godly kids and teaching our children the things on the Lord! Keep up the good work! The Lord will bless our efforts!
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This is Day 7 in a 31 day series on Teaching Toddlers Theology. To catch up on where we've been, or view our menu of posts, go to this intro post.
This is so true! I'm amazed at the understanding that my girls show. I hope they are able to soak up all the good stuff and wring out what isn't pleasing to God.
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