Thursday, September 20, 2007

With Whom Do Your Children Spend Their Time?

Sometimes I am frowned upon by other mothers. I do not allow my children to play unsupervised. I am not the "go play in the basement while Momma fellowships" kind of Momma. I do not even allow the three of my girls to play by themselves. My children are little sinners. And when unsupervised, sin likes to find them out. And I do not want to allow sin to take root in their heart because I was too selfish and wanted some "grown-up" or "me" time.

I am also VERY particular about who I allow my children to be with right now while they are young and impressionable. They are still like wet cement. Anything that happens to them will leave an impression in them. I want their impressions to be things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report and has virtue.

I remember so many times my parents allowed me to chose the friends I hung out with. And I know the struggles I have today as a result of things I learned, heard and did with those "friends." I do not want my children to have the same struggles.

I know that this world is not a perfect world. And there are people in the world that my children will have to encounter that do not love God, and that are not respectful people. And I will train my children on how to show God's love to them. But just as I would not chose them for a friend or to hang out with, I too want to teach my children how to pick wise friendships. Ones that will encourage and edify her and ones that she can help encourage and edify. That is not to say that you cannot share God's love with those whom you would not chose to befriend. Just be wise in whom you spend the majority of your time with. Redeeming their time wisely. Another verse.

A friend of mine has the PERFECT analogy of why it is so important to root our children in the truth of God's word at a young age before allowing them to be exposed to the world.

Bankers, when they are being trained are only trained with real money. They become so familiar with real money that they know exactly how real money sounds, feels, smells and looks. They are not given any counterfeits to work with. Only real, honest, truthful money. When they are released to work in the bank, they are so familiar and rooted in what real money is, that they can quickly and easily spot the counterfeits!

I believe it is the same way with our children. You want your child so rooted in God's word and truth, that when the enemy throws a lie at them, anything contrary to God's word would send off alarms in the child as something that is not true. At that point you can talk to the child about what that lie is, why it is a lie, and end again with God's truth.

Sometimes that means that I lose a possible friendship with another mother. Sometimes it means I am ridiculed by others. But to me, my children are worth it. I do not want to stand one day before God and have to admit that I did not do everything I could to train my children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

5 comments:

Sallie said...

We actually went through a court hearing because a mom who is wiccan said I was teaching my children to stone her children for being a witch. My child did do wrong.. the girl threw a rock and my son threw it back.. and he admitted that. I couldn't believe the judge went for her line of junk and put a restraining order on us and actually said he believed I was teaching intolerance. I guess if protecting my children from those influences is what he wants to call it, then so be it..

God bless,
Sallie

EmmyJMommy said...

I know what you mean about being careful with your children, and who you allow them to spend time with. I do not allow my children to spend time with neighbors that I do not know their parents, or what their parents primary beliefs are....the children I do allow my children to play with, they are not allow to spend too much time with, because I do not have the type of relationship with their family to allow them to have the lengthy contact/influence over my kids. I do allow my children to play out of my sight line, but I try (and usually fail miserably) to keep an ear/eye out for any problems, but I do tend to allow them to attempt to rectify situations on their own...and step in when need be. I have really enjoyed your blog, and will continue to visit!

Truth said...

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job training up your children. I recall the criticism of sheltering my children and wasn't sure how to respond to that. But then I realized that yes, indeed I WAS sheltering. No different than I shelter myself! I shelter myself from movies I don't believe are appropriate. I avoid things that I know are a tempation to me. Why would I NOT shelter my children???

Anonymous said...

Oh how true. I am glad you posted this, it is so true. I popped over here from the In beauty and in grace yahoo group.
Melissa

Donetta said...

This has paid off big for my children who are now in a public school. I am so grateful for the sound foundations I was able to afford them.