If you're read my recent blogs, you've read about how I've been trying to get more of a biblical focus for our whole day. God shouldn't be put into one part of our day but be present and active in our whole lives. One aspect of this that I've been thinking about more is the role of play and toys in the lives of my children.
If God is the focus of our day, my thought on young kids and play is that play is a way for them to act out living God's way and a way for them to learn about God's world. Their focus when they play shouldn't be just selfish enjoyment of toys, but of playing with toys in a way God would be pleased with and using them as tools to learn about how to live and learn in God's world.
For example, legos and building toys are good for them to learn construction and science skills - they're learning about God's world with them. Little people, Thomas trains, other character toys can be used to show how people should interact with one another. Hitting baloons around is fun and develops muscle coordination and can be beneficial, but if done selfishly it is more of a harm than a benefit.
What makes a toy beneficial or not? In Psalm 119:37 the Bible says: "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things." What makes it something of worth? I believe it's not in what is being played with but how it's being played with. If a kids is selfish and screaming at others who come near their toy, it's definitely a worthless toy at that point. But if they're talking nicely to those who might be bothering them and playing with the toy in good ways, there is worth in that toy.
My kids and I were discussing different toys and how to use them to not be worthless things. Since we have a boat and like to go waterskiing and tubing and all in the summer, the kids like to pretend play like they're waterskiing. We talked about this and how you could pretend you're teaching someone else to waterski or making someone else happy with your boat. We talked about not waterskiing in a boastful way acting like you're the best at it, but rather in a praising God for the joy of waterskiing. Now can little kids get this attitude? Maybe not right away, but with repetition of these concepts over time, they can learn that serving and loving is the way to play and live.
The other day the kids were driving their trains around on the floor and I was thinking about how I could turn trains into something beneficial to others. I started telling them about Bibles and countries who don't have Bibles. We recently had read a children's fiction book about a boy smuggling a Bible into Russia on a train so they were pretending that their trains were bringing Bibles to people who didn't have them. Then another day the were pretending their trains were carrying corn that had been harvested (we had recently picked corn from our garden) so I encouraged them to pretend that they were bringing the corn to people who don't have much food.
Of course one way the children will do this more naturally is if they see us living some of these things out in real life. If we're praying for the poor and giving things to them, if we're praying for the people with no Bibles, if we're using our possessions to benefit others, these ideas will be caught much easier.
One other main key of doing this is that you need to be involved and around when the kids are playing. If they're just sent off to play all the time without interraction with you as a parent, you'll miss opportunities to encourage them to play in good ways. I do send them off to play at times during school but I try to be around other times when they are playing to encourage good playing. I can't say I see the fruit from a few times of doing this yet, but hopefully over time my children will become less selfish with their toys and begin to see the right focus in play.
I agree that we should focus our kids on God and His Kingdom in their play too! I really enjoyed this with the trains. What a great idea! We have a train set we bought for the girls years ago. We just might have to distribute Bibles tomorrow! Great ideas!
BTW, when you posted the fun in the puddles pictures, it messed up your margins. I didn't know if you knew. I still enjoyed reading your posts!
I was awarded the You Make Smile award. I haven't posted yet, but I wanted to give it to you! I always smile when I come read your blogs, and many times I "amen" too! :)
• Sun 30 Sep 2007 - Excellent!
BTW, when you posted the fun in the puddles pictures, it messed up your margins. I didn't know if you knew. I still enjoyed reading your posts!
I was awarded the You Make Smile award. I haven't posted yet, but I wanted to give it to you! I always smile when I come read your blogs, and many times I "amen" too! :)
In Him, Eva