Never Too Early

Anyone who says that raising two children is twice as difficult as raising one is wrong.  It’s a whole lot more than twice as hard!  It’s exponentially more difficult!  The older my two monkeys get, the more “interesting” things are around here.  I’m speaking of social and relational issues – how the two of them interact with each other.  As Lucy becomes more and more independent, the arguing, bickering, fussing, and whining seem to be increasing between the two monkeys.

Poor ol’ Ty.  He can be so human sometimes.  Never does Lucy pick up a toy (or anything for that matter) without Ty trying to beat her to it or snatch it out of her hands.  It could be a square of toilet paper, and if he sees her with it, he’s got to have it.

Like one day this week when the two of them were playing with a deck of cards.  This particular deck had 4 different colored cards – blue, green, orange, and purple.  Ty was playing with the green and blue cards until….Lucy picked up the orange and purple ones.  Then, of course, he had to have the orange and purple cards too.

That’s when I stepped in.  Rather than take all the cards and give them to Lucy (which was what I really felt like doing) I decided to use the situation as an opportunity to talk about Biblical character.  Sometimes rather than just telling Ty that he should or should not do something, I try to help him see it from God’s point of view.  Is he thinking of himself, or is he thinking of others?  Is he choosing to act like Jesus tells us to?

In this particular instance, I was trying to get Ty to tell me how Jesus wants us to treat others, i.e. The Golden Rule.  So, I asked him,

“Are you playing nicely?”

Blank stares all around.

“What’s the right thing to do?”

More blank stares.  Maybe I need to be more direct.

“How does the Bible say we should treat others?”

It was at this point that Lucy, the silent onlooker, turned to me and said,

“Be kind.”

Music to my ears!!!

“That’s right!  That’s right!  What else does the Bible say?”  I knew I was pushing my luck here, but I just had to ask her.

“Work together.”

A miracle!  Really.  I believe that it was nothing more than the Holy Spirit working in that tiny, two-year-old heart, bringing to mind those simple Scriptures.  And if that’s not miraculous, what is??  Wow! It’s never too early to teach your children about Jesus.

I just want to say, “Thanks,” to Car-Car for taking time to work with the tiny tots each Sunday.  The seeds you are planting are already taking root!