Childhood Innocence
I believe in childhood. It’s easy to let our children grow up too soon. In fact, I think it is hard not to do that. Resisting the temptation to rush childhood requires many well-thought-out decisions. Even something as simple as finding clothes and shoes that look like they belong to a child is a challenge.
Making the easier decisions and the hard ones is worth it. Have you ever seen a childish forty-something who never grew up? It’s not a pretty sight. Children who act like children are a delight. Childish grownups aren’t. Paul put it this way: “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11, NASB). Think about how fun it is to hear a child speak and to get a glimpse into what they are thinking and figuring out. It’s fun when they are little and, as I indicated, not so fun when they should have been adults for many years.
We live in a world that pushes children to become adults too soon. Think for a moment about children’s books, for instance. My children read lots of library books when we homeschooled. Finding books about science topics was difficult, not only because they often included evolution, but also because of how authors handled environmental concerns. I like for science authors to relate the amazing facts about an insect or a bird without going on and on about it being endangered. I like books of fiction that tell good stories without including depressing events related to “contemporary issues.”
Of course, children have to face the issues of environmental pollution, habitat loss, divorce, and terrorism sometime, but they also need to experience the joy of innocence while they are children. Sometimes our children must face hard issues, such as the loss of a parent’s job or the sickness or loss of a loved one. We can’t control those issues, but we can be careful what they hear, read, and watch.
It is particularly tempting to let children grow up too quickly once they reach the “preteen” years. Personally I don’t like the terms preschooler or preteen. Why do children have to be pre-something? Let children be three or four or eleven or twelve without talking like they are in some kind of inferior age group waiting to be the real thing–a schooler or a teen!
When Jesus healed Jairus’ daughter, His words to her were: “Talitha kum,” which means, “Little girl, get up.” The text tells us that she was twelve years old. This “little girl” was twelve. I like that. I wonder what she played that afternoon.
There is a time to be a child and a time to be grown up. Homeschooling gives children a wonderful opportunity to do those in the right order and for the right length of time. God created childhood and adulthood. He wants us to grow up and be mature adults, but He also wants us always to keep the innocent heart of a child. Jesus said:
“Permit the children to come to Me;
do not hinder them;
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Truly I say to you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
like a child will not enter it at all.”
And He took them in His arms
and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
Mark 10:14-16, NASB