Parenting Advice

Do you ever wonder at the timing of life? I don't mean the big things, like getting something right when you need it, but rather smaller, somewhat trivial things. I had an experience this past weekend that made me laugh. On Friday night we had our Going UP event title, "Elu Vanemateta" The event was great and all the students that put it together did a great job. On Saturday evening, I was out with my family in town, walking around enjoying the fresh air. We made our way over to the playground for the boys to enjoy for a little while. There is one large jungle gym that you have to climb up onto via a steep ramp and a rope. With the temperature around 0 degrees, the ramp was very slippery and it was impossible for anyone to climb up on their own, so I was helping Oskar, my 2 year old son, get up and around the equipment there. I was just there beside him and one place as a very big step for Oskar and he can't get up it, so I use my hand to make a small step. He then can push up and get to the top level where the slide down is. While I was helping him, a small boy, around 4-5 years old was there staring at me. His body and eyes didn't move for about 10 seconds. I was a little freaked out by it, but after all he is 5. The boy then says to me, "He needs to do it by himself." I answered "What" He said in an even more definitive voice, "HE NEEDS TO DO IT BY HIMSELF". Of course I can't let a good fight pass me up, so I said back, "But he is too little to get up here and its slippery" He said one more time for me, "HE NEEDS TO DO IT BY HIMSELF" With that, Oskar made it down the slide and Reena said lets go, so I said good bye to the little boy and started to think about what just happened.

How is it possible to get parenting advice from a 5 year old boy? How could it be happening just 24 hours from the Going UP event where we talked about respecting parents? After I went through this for a while, then my thoughts turned. What if he was right? Maybe I am babying Oskar too much, maybe I should make him do it by himself? Was I somehow making him a weak little boy, but helping him climb on the playground? I guess in parenting there are two options, one is to stay out and let the kid figure it out, and the second is to do it with him. I wasn't doing everything for Oskar, rather just helping him when necessary. So, after reasoning for a while, i decided that I probably know more about parenting that this young 5 year old.

This situation has me thinking about spiritual babies, spiritual growth and maturation. What is the role of the church in this process? What are we to do to help others come to a mature faith? Can we sometimes feed a young believer too much and they don't learn how to feed themselves? What about discipleship or spiritual mentorship, is this the best option to help people develop? I am taking some significant time right now to think this through. I think we can learn a lot from real parenting to help us as a church figure out what we need and must do to help people develop into the masterpiece God intended them to be. I also think we can learn a lot from each other. If you have thoughts or ideas about this, feel free to share them on this blog and I hope that we can figure out some steps we need to take as a church to make this happen.