Yesterday we went to the library, and it was so much fun to see the boys having a good time while looking for books. That has been a slow-coming development that we have all worked hard for!
As a parent, I feel like we are constantly trying to work to not just shelter our kids from everything negative, but to teach them to think for themselves, and train them to discern what is good for them and what is not at an age-appropriate level.
I often wonder how much of our message is sinking in, but time at the library was eye-opening. They have really started to sift new information differently. They are learning the difference between fun stories that are obviously false, and books that are written as fact, but that our family disagrees with. They will sometimes check out books, knowing that parts of it may not actually be true, and read with caution.
I love watching that develop in them. We can't shelter them from everything that is negative or untrue for their entire lives. We can't force them to just simply agree with what we think for the rest of our lives, either - and neither of those options are what we would want for them, even if they were a possibility.
We want them to be independent thinkers, and they are starting to become just that. They look at books, and will start to tell me what they think God would think about the book. They'll read books, then tell me about how the ideas that are presented as facts line up with what they know to be true about the Bible. And every time they do, I give thanks to God. We rarely have the answers to parenting questions, but God has been good, and we love the way they are absorbing and sifting through all the information and ideas presented in books!
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