Dora the Explorer and I have a love/hate relationship. Sawyer used to really, really like watching her and it brought me joy because it brought her joy, but she has slowly grown out of that phase.
I mean, it’s sort of a cute little show; Map is adorable, as is Boots…they always have a goal, a place in mind that they have to get to…but I’ve noticed an increase in the number of times I have to get up and shut it off because of witches or wizards or other crazy characters casting spells. As a Bible believing family, we’re just not going to support that kind of stuff, especially in children’s programming. Same for the overly dramatic, whiny, disrespectful characters that are in way too many shows. Aint nobody got time for that!
As a parent, it is my God appointed responsibility to act as a gatekeeper for my kiddos. Our eyes and ears are two huge camps of infiltration and our babies don’t have the full capacity or discernment yet to know when something is trying to come in and inflict warfare on their hearts and minds.
Even though she only gets to watch a (heavily regulated) show a day, there is still sooooooo much stuff all around us that she’s exposed to – radio commercials, stories from other kids, loud phone conversations, pictures that pop up in Google search results (when only searching for “silly kitties”), attitudes and words from neighboring diners in restaurants, magazine racks at the checkout line, spending time with other peoples’ children – the list could go on and on.
At this young and impressionable age, if other peoples’ kids are treating each children disrespectfully (including yours) or don’t get disciplined (or get disciplined poorly or not in love) or have issues with physicality – don’t subject your kids to that! This can be so hard, especially if you really enjoy spending time with the parents of said children, but it’s just not worth it. One, they need to be in a place that feel safe and secure and if they’re getting beat up or verbally assaulted every time they “play” together, then they aren’t safe and secure. Two, they’re gonna bring that stuff home and we can’t be (or at least I’m not) willing to let that happen.
It’s my job to protect my babies from some of the things they’re just absolutely too young to think on, and to talk through and counter the rest with the Truth – the Word of God. I’m not saying you need to shelter them their entire lives and then just throw them to the wolves one day when it’s time to leave the nest, but I am saying that we have to be intentional about what and who they surround themselves with, even at age three.
We have to act with purpose by planting the wisdom and truth of the Lord into their hearts. Unfortunately, it’s not just going to happen on it’s own. We have to take an active stance and it’s going to take some (more) of our precious, dedicated time. (Have you ever had to die to yourself so much in your entire life?!? Yeah, me either…)
But? They will be better for it (and so will we). They will be well equipped with truth to combat the hundreds of lies thrown at them by the world every day. They will have a firm foundation of the Word of the Lord so that they can begin to navigate these things for themselves. They will be filled with the wisdom and discernment that comes from being saturated in Him…and they will begin to see themselves and others through the lens of the Lord and not the the lens of the world. Their hearts and words and actions and thoughts will bear the fruit of the Spirit – it will have no other option!
Guess what all of that means for us as parents? We have to do those same things for ourselves, too. We have to be cognizant of what we’re seeing and hearing and thinking on. We have to be led by the Spirit…we have to be full of wisdom and discernment…we have to be basking in His Word or else we won’t be able to give it away to the littles.
This post comes on the heels of 1.) the Grammy’s, which I did not watch but too many of my friends and their kids did (and I wished they wouldn’t have…see above) and 2.) an overly embarrassing episode in our home last night. As I was putting a spoon in the sink, our glass, dish soap holder fell (loudly) in the sink and scared the daylights out of me! (Me? Jumpy and high strung? Never. Ahem.) Before I had even uttered anything except a small scream, Sawyer said, “Oh, shed.” Yeah. Isn’t that nice. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t referring to the little building where we store the lawn mowers. Apparently, ahem, I have a habit of saying a semblance of that lovely phrase often enough for her to notice. I mean, we don’t go too many places for her to pick this language up, so I’m gonna have to call dibs on this one.
I turned around and asked what she said and she replied, “Oh, shed. That’s what we say when we drop something.” Nice one, mom. Dora should be the least of my worries, eh?
So, we then got to have a talk about how imperfect mommy is and how I don’t always say things that honor Jesus, but that I need to work on that. We talked about how out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks and that I need to do some work on my heart so that my reactions when I get flustered or scared are more righteous.
So now that I’ve completely outed myself (embarrassed, flustered, red face, queasy stomach and all), I hope to practice more of what I’ve preached here. Lord, help me. And I’m hoping you’ll still let your kids come over – I really try to make a point not to use curse words, really, I do.
The point is, evil/vile/sinful things, thoughts and words are all around us vying for a piece of our allegiance. We have to do our best to protect the gates of our homes and the gates of the homes of our souls – our hearts. Let us love righteousness and hate sin…and watch less Dora…because that’s probably good for everyone.