Adventures in Parenting

I admit, we live a sheltered life here in the suburbs.

I’m not complaining. We like the relative peace and tranquility of suburbia. On the other hand, we cannot live with our heads in the sand.

In my zeal after reading about the devastating earthquake in China, I went berserk last night and lectured my 12-year-old about being too concern about her own affairs. “Don’t be so worry about your test grade or your project! Don’t you know thousands of people are dying???” She looked at me blankly and said, “Mom, I am too young to understand all that.”

How can we teach our children about something that is happening so far away? How can it make sense to us?

This is not the type of thing can be taught at a single moment or with one lecture. We cannot expect our children to understand about things that we only talk about once a year when it hits major news. It takes a lifetime for us to develop a heart of compassion and see our world as a global community.

Here are just a few suggestions to get started and to build on:

1. Talking about news in other parts of world should be a part of our regular conversation. When we talk about the world on a regular basis, it doesn’t seem so far away if it was suddenly brought up out of nowhere. This means our dinnertime conversation doesn’t have to be limited to what we did at school or whose team won. My daughter just finished a multicultural project at school that gave us opportunities to talk about how people live in the Far East.

2. Sponsor a child. We sponsor a child through World Vision and are updated with materials about the needs around the world. In fact, their website is very educational. It’ll be good to take a regular visit there instead of to YouTube.

3. Pray for the victims. It may not seem like much, but I believe God hears when people call to Him. Our prayers not only teach our children to think of those in need, but it also in a real way move the heart of God. Add that to our regular night time prayers.

What else do you suggest?