Young Life Nearly Taken Teaches Hard Lesson

Now that my wife Lyndsey and I have just been blessed with our first child after waiting for 12 years, we are so honored and privileged to have been entrusted by God with this precious miracle-baby's life. 

Because this is our first child, we also realize that there are so many things for us to learn about parenting.

For example, I never knew that there was such a thing as "butt paste." Did you know that you can walk right into Babies R Us, and they have butt paste on a shelf?

I am still not quite sure what we are supposed to do once we obtain a jar of butt paste, but I am sure I will soon find out.

I also discovered that there is a person known as the Diaper Genie. I remember getting so excited when I first heard about him. Where can I find this individual? Does he charge hourly rates to change our baby's diapers?

As a new daddy, I have to be honest with you, I am really looking forward to meeting this Diaper Genie person.

Did you know that there is also a "witching hour" in the homes of many families with new borns? The "witching hour," I am told, takes place in the early hours of the night, when the baby is colicky and the mommy is losing her mind.

These are only a few of the things that I have recently learned about that has caused me to realize that my wife and I are on an exciting new adventure in life. It is the great adventure of parenting.

Now that we have become a part of the great adventure of parenting, we are trying to arm ourselves with tools that will help us raise our little miracle baby.

One of the books we are reading right now, is a book that was written by Dr. James Dobson entitled, "Bringing up Boys." In this book, we read about the negative effect that television has upon a child, especially those two and under.

Here is an excerpt from the book that we are reading. "Steve Rubenstein of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, 'Turn off the TV, moms and dads, the health of your little tyke is at stake. Children younger than two should not watch TV because it can interfere with healthy brain growth, according to a new policy issued this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Pediatricians should urge parents to avoid television viewing for children younger than two. Research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interactions with (people) for healthy brain growth, the policy stated.”

The report continued, “In previous issues of the association’s medical journal, pediatricians and doctors have warned that TV viewing by children can lead to violent behavior, obesity, apathy, lower metabolism, decreased imagination, constipation, and even death – in the event that TV should topple over and fall on the child.

"But this is the first time the association has called for an outright ban. The study also said that the average child is subjected to 14,000 sexual references on TV a year and is exposed to $2 billion worth of alcohol ads in other media annually. Common sense told us decades ago that regular viewing of graphic images of blood and gore were harmful to kids, but only recently has there been enough credible scientific evidence to prove it. Now the authorities on child development are in agreement." 

The following information regarding the influence that TV has upon children reminded me of a tragic story that took place several years ago when I was a children's pastor down in San Diego. 

I received a call that one of the preschool students named Abby, from the school at our church had been in a horrible accident. She had just finished watching Harry Potter with her older siblings, when she decided to grab a broomstick and head out into her backyard pretending to be Harry Potter.

Once outside she proceeded to put the broomstick under her legs pretending to be a witch that could fly. This impressionable little 4-year-old then decided to begin her great adventure as Harry Potter by taking her broomstick and flying over the deep end of her family's empty swimming pool, causing her to crash head first into the bottom of the empty 8 foot-deep cement flooring of the swimming pool.

She ended up being life-flighted out of her house to children's hospital. She was in critical condition with two fractures to her skull, a concussion, black eye, and worst of all, she had a hematoma. A hematoma is when an artery or a vein ruptures between your skull and your brain, causing blood to leak.

For the following two days, the bleeding in her brain continued to get worse, and the doctors said that she had very little chance of surviving this horrible accident. 

Don't worry, this story has a very happy ending. Through much prayer, little Abby was miraculously healed by God, surprising the doctors and bringing great joy to the church, showing once again we serve a God that still does the miraculous. 

I share this story to encourage parents of young children to never let their guards down when it comes to their little ones and the TV. Not only should we be concerned with allowing our toddlers to watch TV, as studies show that it has a very negative affect on them -- even interfering with healthy brain growth -- but we should also be ever mindful of what our children of all ages are watching, as their minds do not come with garbage disposal's like our sinks.

When negative influences or graphic and violent images reach their little minds, there is switch we get to flip in order to remove it from their brain. They are forever stuck with that impression or thought. 

As the Apostle Paul says, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8-9)

If this is God's instruction for us as followers of Jesus Christ to enable us to have spiritually healthy minds, how much more should we be guiding and protecting our child's minds with these boundary markers of the brain also.

The Bible tells parents to, "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) This concept of "training up" our children in the word of God conveys the idea that we must be purposeful and focused on their daily development as we raise them.

It means we never get a day off from their development, just like our Heavenly Father never takes a day off from our development. It means we must always be nurturing them and helping them to grow and mature as they get older.

At the same time, we must remember that this is a long process, and they are going to make a lot of mistakes, and so too are we. But we are to never give up on this goal, because it is God's purpose for us as parents.

Look to Him and He will give us the strength to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.

Let us always be diligent to protect the minds of our children, by helping guide what things are being processed through them. Because once something enters into their little hearts and minds, there is no butt paste that will cover it up, and no diaper genie into which to place those images or thoughts. It is forever theirs, and it is helping form and shape who they will become as adults.

I know there are no perfect parents except for God Himself -- and I know that as we raise our little boy, we are going to fall way short as well -- but let each of us strive to fight the good fight and making every effort to raise spiritually healthy kids.