Parenting Grade Card- Life Lessons: F
(Excerpt from random conversation last night with B, age 5)
Me:"........and so I think we ought to do something this year at Christmas to help others."
B: "Like last year? At church? We did the food and toys."
Me: "Yeah, kinda like last year. Maybe more, if we can."
B: "I don't like it when we give toys....it makes me jealous. I keep thinking how I might want that toy."
Me: "B, you should be so thankful at how blessed we are. You have toys, clothes, food, a warm house.... We are so blessed. Many people don't have these things we take for granted."
B: "Can't we just give them gift cards and money?"
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Me: "...and God wants us to give what we have to help others. It is what we are supposed to do. I understand that at 5 years old, jealousy sneaks up on you, but you need to understand how blessed we are and that God doesn't want us to be greedy. It is a sin."
B: "What is a sin?"
Me: "You know what sin is. Sin is an action that pushes God away. Being greedy pushes God away, and he wants to be close to us....not pushed away."
B: "Well, when I was greedy, I didn't know it was a sin."
B: "OK?"
B: "OK?"
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Me: "I think you would be surprised at how many kids at your school go hungry on the weekends. There are children that don't hardly have any food from the time they leave on Friday, until they come back on Monday. Their parents don't have the money to supply the food or there is some other reason that there isn't any. Sometimes neglect. These kids could be your friends and you might not even know. Can you imagine being hungry and me not being able to feed you?"
B: (after thinking awhile)....."So their parents are failures?"
Me: "What?"
B: "Failures with their money?"
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B: There are probably some kids at school that are hungry, but there aren't as many kids that don't have food in our town, as there are in other places in the world."
Me: "You are probably right."
B: "......like the Gulf of Mexico....."
Me:"........and so I think we ought to do something this year at Christmas to help others."
B: "Like last year? At church? We did the food and toys."
Me: "Yeah, kinda like last year. Maybe more, if we can."
B: "I don't like it when we give toys....it makes me jealous. I keep thinking how I might want that toy."
Me: "B, you should be so thankful at how blessed we are. You have toys, clothes, food, a warm house.... We are so blessed. Many people don't have these things we take for granted."
B: "Can't we just give them gift cards and money?"
*****************
Me: "...and God wants us to give what we have to help others. It is what we are supposed to do. I understand that at 5 years old, jealousy sneaks up on you, but you need to understand how blessed we are and that God doesn't want us to be greedy. It is a sin."
B: "What is a sin?"
Me: "You know what sin is. Sin is an action that pushes God away. Being greedy pushes God away, and he wants to be close to us....not pushed away."
B: "Well, when I was greedy, I didn't know it was a sin."
B: "OK?"
B: "OK?"
***************************
Me: "I think you would be surprised at how many kids at your school go hungry on the weekends. There are children that don't hardly have any food from the time they leave on Friday, until they come back on Monday. Their parents don't have the money to supply the food or there is some other reason that there isn't any. Sometimes neglect. These kids could be your friends and you might not even know. Can you imagine being hungry and me not being able to feed you?"
B: (after thinking awhile)....."So their parents are failures?"
Me: "What?"
B: "Failures with their money?"
*********************
B: There are probably some kids at school that are hungry, but there aren't as many kids that don't have food in our town, as there are in other places in the world."
Me: "You are probably right."
B: "......like the Gulf of Mexico....."
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