There is a commercial on the television circuit right now that makes mine and my husband’s blood boil and our neck do that twitching thing… well there are actually many that put this red head in a fired up let-me-tell-you-what tizzy of emotion. However the one in particular today is this one…
My husband and I saw this commercial, and our 12 year old and 9 year old girls were sitting in the room with us when we saw it the first time, my husband just looked at our 12 year old and said, “Yeh. Go ahead and try that. See how far it gets you.”
Guess what family doesn’t buy Yoplait anymore. That’s right. This one.
I was reminded of this day in our family after I read this quote in a post about teaching strong-willed children.
When a parent refuses to accept his child’s defiant challenge, something changes in their relationship. The youngster begins to look at his mother and father with disrespect; they are unworthy of her allegiance. More important, she wonders why they would let her do such harmful things if they really loved her. The ultimate paradox of childhood is that boys and girls want to be led by their parents but insist that their mothers and fathers earn the right to lead them.
~ Dr James Dobson
The look on this teenage girl’s face as she speaks about her mother and her mother’s authority stirs something up in my spirit that makes me want to come through that tv and adjust her attitude myself. The fact that our media plays this rebellion up and then has the audacity to act shocked over the bully trend that is raging through our schools… the defiance of the students in the classroom… the lack of respect for authority…
Why would the children raised on constant media and music that teaches them that parents are idiots or completely absent and that teachers and principals are fools or downright tyrannical power trippers looking for kids to control because they have not enough backbone to stand up to their peers… why on earth would these children respect authority or other weaker students?
We are where we are in this day because of what we have allowed.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth
And put devious speech far from you.
Proverbs 4:22-24
The girl in that Yoplait commercial has a deceitful mouth and devious speech… When was the last time you sat down and watched what your kids were watching… I don’t mean with them. I mean when they have gone to bed, when they are not in the room… sit down and analytically watched what they watch to see what is being poured into their hearts and minds in your home, under the safety of your roof, within the fortress of your home? What outside influences are you willingly allowing on your watch?
Just imagine if you are walking in the woods with your children, if you are on a nature hike searching out for flowers and different types of leaves… your kids are looking for the pretty things but what are you on the look out for?
Snakes, spiders, bobcats, bears, mountain lions, poison oak, poison ivy, bees, wasps, hornets, and any other predators or poisons…
It is no different in our homes. Our homes are not the place to put our guard down and our feet up. We have to be on the look out for predators and it is not time to rest until the area has been searched out and declared safe. We have to guard our children’s hearts and we have to teach them how to guard their own in the process.
As the mouth reveals what is the heart, the ear determines what goes into it.
~ Bruce K. Waltke
My challenge to you as a parent… sit down watch and listen to what is going into your child’s ears on a regular basis… and as you listen evaluate whether of not these are things you want coming out of your child’s mouth and determining their actions…
NO it is not just a tv show, it is not just a movie, and it is not just a song.
Listen, O my people, to my instruction;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
We live in an era where there is this crazy thought that we as parents have to give our children “privacy” and we are not to question them in certain areas of their life… that we are supposed to let them storm out the door and say they don’t want to talk about it and give them their “space” and allow them to “express” themselves…
We live in an era that tells us it’s healthy to pull our kids off our legs screaming for us for dear life when they are only two, three, four years old and know that they are fixing to be separated, for over eight hours-five days a week, from the ones that have sustained their life and been their place of safety and provision. Craziness. Absolute Insanity.
Hey, but don’t take my word for it… just look around you and see the results of putting “space” between parent and child.
Let’s put it in perspective…
How much “space” does God want between HIM and His children. Especially His young still growing into maturity children? Now I ask you… who is it that wants that space?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said…
Genesis 3:1
This is not about whether or not you are a working mom or a stay at home mom… whether you homeschool or do public school… whether you do daycare or grandparents care… This is about what goes on in your home on your watch. When you come home, do you still go one direction and your kids another? Do you tune out their shows, their music, or are you on the alert? Are you WITH THEM when you are with them? It’s okay to question them especially when you are willing to really listen to them.