The Great Adventure of Parenting

Now that my wife Lyndsey and I are having our first child in October (a son), and are about to begin 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 TV 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, Pediatrics, 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. I received a call that one of the preschool students from our churches school 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 little four year-old then decided to begin her great adventure as Harry Potter by taking her broomstick and flying over the deep end of her families empty swimming pool, causing her to crash headfirst 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 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 one's 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 not a garbage disposal button that we get to push 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. Let us always be diligent to protect the minds of our children, by helping guide what things are being processed through them. 

I know that there are no perfect parents except for God Himself (and I know that when my little boy is born I am going to fall way short as well), but let us strive to continue fighting the good fight and making every effort to raise spiritually healthy kids. One area that is crucial in this great adventure of parenting is protecting their eyes and their minds from harm.