Play Contiuous

When I was your age, we didn't have DVD's.
We only had VHS. And we had to get up
and rewind it if we wanted to watch it again.

We rented a movie from the library for the children the other day. In the menu, it had the typical play movie, but then it also had play continuous. You mean my child can press on that and the movie will play over and over and OVER again, and I will not have to tend to them at all? They can sit mindlessly for hours at a time watching the same thing over and over and over again and they leave me alone?

What is this world coming to?! I admit, there are times when I use the TV (always pre-approved movies) to "sit" my kids if I really have to get something done (like finances or an important phone call). But that is AT THE MOST one to one and a half hours. A short movie. Play continuous is just another way for my children to feel that I have something better to do than to be with them.

It is sad is that there is even a "need" for that - the fact it is even an option.

God gave us our children for such a SHORT period of time! Why would we waste that time by allowing a movie to keep their attention (and sometimes even their hearts!)?!?!? God gave me my children to train them. I am the one who is to train them, not some movie I approved. (Of course that is not to say their Daddy doesn't train them, but while he is working, I am responsible for what training is done.)

Love to a child is spelled T-I-M-E. My time with them shows them how much I love them. If I am not spending my time training them, having FUN and in JOY with them...if I am not giving them my attention, when they get older, they will find someone who WILL give them that attention. And it will most likely be the WRONG kind of attention.

Pregnant teens didn't get that way by watching too much TV, they got that way seeking the attention of a boy. Teens in gangs don't spend their time watching TV, they spend it seeking the approval (in my opinion, that is another form of attention) of the gang leader and their peers.

When my children are young adults I want them to be seeking OUR attention and OUR approval. I want them to feel like they are satisfied here, with us and not have to go out and "find their way." I want them to know what their way is from the training they have received here.

I don't know what way the Lord has planned for each of my children. I am sure it will all be different. But I do know that if I am training them NOW, while they are young, to seek the Lord, then when they are older, they will know their way because the Lord will be their guide.

And just what does play continuous teach my children? That life is all play and no work? I don't want my children to be shocked when they grow up and are no longer living here, that life is work. It is work to keep a house clean. It is work in the workplace to bring home money to pay bills and such. That is one of the reasons my children have chores, even at their young ages. Of course each chore is age appropriate. But if they start out knowing that life is work, then as they get older, it will be no surprise when they HAVE to work, not just because Momma said so.

Now don't get me wrong, we have LOTS of fun here. I take a lot of joy in my children. We run and laugh. We have tickle fights and play board games. We have pillow fights and water fights. I love their laughs and smiles. And have to have them several times a day or my day is just sad and incomplete. But there has to be a balance. Just as there should not be all play and no work, there should not be all work and no play. :)

Anyways, just some ramblings today about how play continuous convicted me.