The greatest danger our children face…

They say that 90% of child abuse victims know their perpetrator.

Although we always warn our children against talking to strangers, it’s the people your child knows who pose the greatest threat. (Perhaps we should name them “familiars” and write children’s books teaching kids how to stay safe among those they know.)

Familiars are the most dangerous because we don’t see them as threats. We aren’t on guard against that which is commonplace in our lives.

~

It was a sunny afternoon when Dutch curled up on my lap. I told him I’d read to him, and to pick any book he wanted, so LEGO Star Wars was the choice.  We read–series and set numbers and scenes until his little mind was filled with galactic thrills. He looked up, eyes bright with idea:

“Mommy, could we make a birthday wish list for me?”

I thought for a moment. His seventh birthday isn’t until December, but it seemed innocent enough to look around on Amazon and see what piqued his interest. I won’t set foot in a mall or a Toys R’ Us, but the laptop at the kitchen counter seemed easy enough.

“Ok, sure. Let’s look.”

Since he’d seen sets from the books, these were on the forefront of his mind. I began to type in the names: Anakin’s Jedi Interceptor.  Click. The set popped up:

$240.00

Excuse me?!

We tried another one. $275.00  We tried a third. $180.00.

By now I was feeling sick. I explained to Dutch that all of these were way too expensive.

“Oh but we won’t buy them! Someone else will buy one for me, for my birthday.”

I looked into his innocent, bright, eager face. So, so much to explain. Where to begin? 

I looked back at the computer and the answer was right in front of me. The tab right next to Amazon, still open from earlier in the morning:

World Vision Gift Catalog.

I clicked over.

Immediately the LEGOs and leggings and light-up toys were no longer. Back-to-school “must haves” were replaced by actual “must-haves”: Food, water, shelter. We looked into the face of a little boy, beaming, his arms around a goat. I watched Dutch’s face, thoughtful. He’s seen the site before, but this time I could see his eyes looking at the dollar signs attached to each item. We perused through the gift list, finding items equivalent in price to the LEGO sets.  Without guilt, lecturing, or wagging my finger, we made some simple comparisons.

Someone could buy one LEGO set for Dutch, or a little boy could have a donkey, providing transportation and the ability to farm and make a living for his family. One LEGO set, or clothes for dozens of children. One LEGO set, or 20 bed nets so that little children his age would not die of malaria.

Did he love this little lesson? No. Of couse not. But he understood. He looked in my eyes,

“Ok, mommy. Let’s wait on the LEGO sets. Let’s not put them on my wish list.”

Am I a mean mommy? Maybe. Denying my children their basic American rights? Life, liberty and the pursuit of LEGOs? Perhaps. But I’d just read a bone-rattling chapter from Pursuing Justice and became convinced that the greatest danger, to my children, is not the danger of human trafficking, drugs, sex, or rock ‘n roll.

The greatest danger is the most familiar.  Like the well-known perpetrator, the greatest threat to our children is the danger we allow them to embrace every day.

Consumerism.

Jesus said we cannot serve God and money. The thirst for money drives the marketing schemes which target our children and whet their little appetites for more … and more and more and more.

Christianity and consumerism cannot coincide.  They are mutually exclusive. Oil and water. True Christianity breeds contentment. The American Dream mentality never stops striving for more.

Even our littlest children can understand the way of the cross. That life lost is life found. That it’s better to give than to receive. Why wait to teach these truths?

The sooner they know the secret of absolute surrender, the sweeter their lives will be.

Is this easy? No way. But we moms know nothing about parenting is easy. And besides, what they may lack in LEGOs, we will make up for in love.

What they lack in toys, we will make up for in time.

{Mamas unite! We CAN raise children who grow to follow Jesus and not every passing shiny thing that hits the market. I pray strength for you today as you run the marathon of parenting those littles. Thanks for reading.}

PS Just a friendly FYI that the amount of pesticides now doused on our children’s food has DOUBLED as of this week. Hold the soy! Read the labels! Thanks. 🙂