09.18.07
by request
Somehow I managed to send yesterday’s written piece off into cyberspace never to be seen again. I wonder how often THAT happens!
Today’s piece is no more than a list. It’s not even alphabetical yet.
It’s all the education-cum-parenting books we’ve got and you’ll find it here. Over the next few weeks I hope to add reviews, or at least a few notes about these books.
09.12.07
In the Shadow of Andersen
T3 and M5 were building with blocks at my feet as I typed. Their conversation entered my stream of consciousness! Here’s where I picked it up and joined in. I started to type as fast as my fingers would allow me, and left out the “please may you pass me the red one” and “shall we put this here?” comments.
M5: Are you being a copy cat?
T3: Yes I want to.
M5: Well ask Jesus and he could make you into a cat coz he’s the only one that’s magic.
T3: Is Jesus magic?
M5: Yes
Me: How do you know that?
M5: Well I know that He is. I just know. When I read the Bible it reminds me of that. Because when I was only 3 or 4 we read a book about Jesus died on the cross and rising from the dead.
Me: Is that magic?
M5: Yep.
Me: Could it be anything else?
M5: Yes
Me: What else could it be?
M5: Jesus makes the wind. Jesus makes people.
T3: Jesus - making - God (her words didn’t run together as a sentence!)
M5: Jesus IS God and God is Jesus.
T3: But sometimes he isn’t.
M5: Every time he, (somewhat distracted) all times He is…
T3: Why is He?
M5: Coz all times he is T3.
Me: Do you think magic is the same as God’s power?
M5: No.
Me: What’s the difference?
M5: Jesus. (pause) I don’t know.
Three minutes of building while I edited the quickly poorly-typed conversation above and then it erupted again!
M5: I just started to know that Jesus is magic and that he could make things lay. Do cicadas? Like chickens lay eggs.
L6 entered.
Me: Is magic God?
L6: I’m not sure.
M5: When you were three did you go to preschool and read books about God, coz I did?
L6: There weren’t many books about God, but when I was four there were some books about God and Jesus. God and magic isn’t the same thing. I don’t really know what the difference is though.
Me: Is magic a person?
M5: Yes, it is, yes.
L6: It’s Jesus. Kind of. Yes and no.
Me: So, is God a person?
L6: No.
M5: Well God is Jesus.
L6: Well God isn’t a person. He doesn’t have a body like men (aha, quoting straight from the catchism we memorise!) But he did live on earth and was a human being. But now He’s invisible you can’t see Him.
M5: Sometimes He isn’t invisible.
L6: Am I allowed to go and play now?
Me: Sure.
M5: Well you CAN see Him, He’s the sky eh Mama?
Me: No! He MADE the sky.
L6: (who obviously didn’t go out to play!) It’s hard to believe He’s everywhere.
M5: It’s hard to believe that He’s in the sky and He’s all around the world eh. It’s hard to believe, eh Mama?
Me: It’s hard for me to understand. That’s for sure. But I can believe it, because God is so much bigger than me and He knows more so He knows how to make that happen.
L6: Are you writing it down?
Me: Yes!
L6: giggle *big grin*
Me: What do you think?
L6: Very funny!
Me: Why?
L6: Coz I was just reading what you were writing and I thought, “I must ask her!” grin. giggle. chuckle. uncontrollable giggle
M5: L6, please may you stop laughing like that; it’s a sort of silly laugh.
When our older kids were younger, we didn’t read them ANY books about ghosts or witches or magic. I deleted it from the odd book that was (IMHO) otherwise fine…..I even changed the rhyme in one book. Other books we avoided altogether until later. Later arrived these past couple of weeks with our Hans Christian Andersen read-alouds.
Today’s conversation with the littlies reminded me *why* it is better to leave magic till later.
We’ll have an explicit chat about it sometime soon (the above conversation was just teasing out what they’re thinking) and then put away the magic until they are more mature in their understanding of reality.
And that’s how far I got before K10 came in. His entrance seemed to be an opportnity presenting itself to me, so I just had to enquire:
Me: Is magic God?
K10: What do you mean? He can do miracles, but I wouldn’t call it magic.
Me: What’s magic then?
K10: Hmmm? Not really sure. There is magic in stories. Real people can’t make magic. But in stories it can do all sorts of things.
Me: Is magic a person?
K10: It isn’t a person, but some people think they can do magic. Why do you want to know?
And so I read out all the above.
Enter K8 stage right.
I had to know. Would she be closer in her understanding to the six year old or the ten year old? She’s the one who only just recently realised that Thunderbirds are puppets (“You can actually see their mouths move” SHOCK!!!!) and she’s the one who had to ask if Anderesen’s The Darning Needle was true or not….so needless to say, I had my suspicions which way the dice was going to fall!
Me: Is magic God?
K8: No. Well, He can do anything, but that’s not really magic. God is different to a person, because he’s not really like anybody. But magic isn’t a person either.
Me: What is magic?
K8: It’s really like a circussy thing. Where they can hold poles on their hand with a person on it. It’s really all that I’ve seen. The other things that I saw at the circus were like shows more than magic stuff.
Me: What makes something magic stuff?
K8: It’s…most people can’t hold a pole on one hand with a person on the top.
Me: Is it being strong?
K8: Yes. It’s like when um when the clowns open up a book and fire comes out. And when the clown can open the drawer and the balls – you can’t see the balls and when he opens it another time you can see them. Or when the clown can hold a stick firm and when he gives it to someone else it all breaks.
There you have it.
09.03.07
A Romance Made in Heaven
It’s been a few years since I wrote this review, but decided there is no reason to not pop it here.
Romancing Your Child’s Heart by Monte Swan
I write this review having only read the book once, and quickly at that, and without even having it in front of me to peruse as I write. But for what it’s worth, here are my initial thoughts: If you take a morals/law-based approach to child-rearing, teaching your children all the character traits they should possess, all the ways they should act and the things they should you think, as they approach adulthood your children will have to decide to accept or reject your morality. If you lead your children to God, woo them to their awesome Creator and Sustainer, they will have to decide whether or not to accept your God. While loving your children extravagantly and drawing them to a relationship with God does not guarantee salvation, it brings them face to face with God rather than a moral system. Swan wants to help us woo our children’s hearts towards God. Central to the task of doing this, he argues, is storytelling. We are a small part of God’s great story. As well as giving purpose it provides us with a methodology – just as God gave us the story in written form, we should pass on stories to our children. This book is actually Swan’s story – and if you don’t have a clue at the beginning of the book how to tell a story, you will have lots of ideas by the end. Indeed, the way he tells his story gives you a glimpse of what he proposes a story can do. Swan presents the challenge to know our God, know our children, know the enemy and know our story.
* He inspires us with the WOW factor of God* He encourages us to study our children, to find the specific purpose for each one’s life, to know them intimately. Two very useful discussions would be of benefit to any parent – a “Child Development 101” summary and a look at “creative domains”. In addition to this, some (culturally) very radical ideas about preserving childhood were comforting to me! (ie I agree with him!)
* He provides extremely pertinent insights into how Satan is a counterfeit – as well as excellent suggestions for living with God as the “real thing”. This chapter, in particular, would make for a useful discussion starter with a teen who may be rejecting their parents’ well-intentioned but legalistic-all-the-same moral code.
* He paints a picture of God’s romance with us and shows us that a romancer has a simple faith, a courageous spirit, joy, laughter, beauty, trustworthiness and a passion for truth. Swan writes from a worldview perspective, but relationally instead of propositionally, as you usually find. This is refreshing. He strikes a balance between thinking and experiencing.
A recurring theme throughout the book is the challenge to live in the present in view of eternity, as opposed to living in the past or future.
While I accept that parents are going to have different standards and different ways of doing things (and that their way may even work better than mine), I do struggle a little with the wide wide limits Swan condones. To be fair to him, he states very clearly that limits must be in place and understood by the child, but his limits are much wider than I am comfortable with (although that does not make them wrong). While I agree with him wholeheartedly about encouraging creativity and curiosity in our children, I do not have a problem with teaching a 16-year-old not to drop wood shavings all over the house. In my opinion, a young adult’s passion for wood carving does not preclude consideration for others. And being able to pour maple syrup over your head as an 18-month old, does not seem to be an essential experience to me! I will encourage creativity, but likely within slightly tighter boundaries.
Last, but by no means least, he gets three big ticks for his love of books, and I think he would agree with Ravi Zacharias, who symbolized the ideal by writing “Every man in his own library.”!!! Aaaaaaah!
