Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Children & motherhood

For my daughter, the sponge

Picture this: My 3-year-old daughter and I are in the bathroom of a pizza place. I’m waiting with her while she goes potty. Meanwhile, music plays from a speaker overhead. We hear these words:

“The French are glad to die for love.
They delight in fighting duels.
But I prefer a man who lives
And gives expensive jewels.”

As the words reach my daughter’s ears, she repeats, with a hint of incredulity, “the French?” “expensive jewels?”

I didn’t know the song at the time, but recognized it when the chorus came on. (“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”) I wondered what else would come out of my daughter’s mouth as the song continued. And it scared me a little.

When this happened, and it’s becoming more frequent that she repeats what she hears, I was in the middle of reading the book “Plugged-In Parenting: How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids with Love, Not War” by Bob Waliszewski.

Before reading one page, I adopted a “yeah, I’ve heard this before” attitude. I expected the same sort of “blah, blah, blah” arguments I’ve encountered in Christian circles about movies and television and music. I like all of those things, and the idea of limiting what I view has never sat well with me.

Until now.

Although the book is aimed at parents of teenagers or pre-teens, and my kids are 3 and 1 1/2, the author has convinced me (or was it God convicting me?) that I need to seriously consider what I view and listen to, if not for my sake, but for theirs. As a result of me reading this book, my husband and I have already started talking about what needs to change. While we limitedly practice media discernment for ourselves, we could take it farther.

Mr. Waliszewski’s arguments are loving and not condemning, powerfully convincing and backed by statistics. His is certainly not a popular stance, but God does not call us to popularity. He calls us to obedience and holiness.

Thanks to this book, I’m taking another step toward both.

 

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I received a copy of “Plugged-in Parenting” free from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my review.

It’s also on Tyndale’s Summer Reading Program list. Click here to join.

I Review For The Tyndale Blog Network

 

 

So much to say

It’s been the kind of day where things are coming together and life is good, and if you could read my thoughts, you’d hear something like this:

  • Meal time in the days leading up to vacation is an adventure. For lunch, yogurt, chips and salsa, raw veggies and ranch dressing. Dinner is shaping up to be “clean out the fridge” night. Wonder what I can make with applesauce, Greek yogurt, green olives and couscous. Hmm …
  • It’s amazing how much Isabelle has learned from just a few weeks of swimming lessons. She water runs through the pool, not really putting strokes and kicking together, but a month ago, she wouldn’t even let go of the teacher to “swim.” And Mommy and Daddy were superimpressed that the teacher grabbed her hand first to jump off the platform in the deep end because no one else wanted to do it. I’m not sure if it was bravery on Isabelle’s part or naiveté.
  • Making friends is fun. I exchanged numbers with another mom at swimming lessons today for a potential park playdate. I’m not the best at making friends. Awkward is a good way to describe it. I’m never sure if people want to be my friend as much as I want to be their friend. Sometimes I’m timid. Today encouraged me.
  • God knows exactly what I need. Illustration:

I’m an easy target for the sun’s rays, and I’m about to spend a week at Bible camp with high schoolers. Outside. In Illinois. In July. Notoriously the hottest week of the year. Baseball caps just don’t cut it for me anymore, so I’ve been keeping my eye out for something more wide-brimmed. My husband cringed when I told him what I wanted. I couldn’t pass up this beauty. $2 at the thrift store. Husband thinks it’s ridiculous. He’s right; ridiculously awesome.

  • I like taking advantage of deals to provide for my family. Bought $35 worth of clothes at  Kohl’s today and didn’t spend a dime of my own money. Then, found a few more things I needed for the fam at Dollar Tree. Spent less than $10. And besides the hat, bought a pair of shorts and two tank tops at the thrift store for less than $15. I’m not an extreme couponer, but I do think I’m a bargain hunter. Going to try to squeeze in one last hunt tomorrow at CVS.
  • Sometimes, there’s a good reason to get lost. On Friday, while following a friend to the park, we took a couple of wrong turns. We were never really lost, but my friend ended up leading us through some unfamiliar parts of town. Today, I needed those parts of town as I was redirected due to an accident and road construction.
  • Being neighborly takes time and effort, but it’s worth both. We’ve spent several of the last days chatting with our neighbors over the fence between our yard and having unplanned and unbusiness related conversations with our landlords (our other neighbors) when we’re all outside. It’s taken us 3 years to develop these relationships to this point, and in a year, we’ll be in a new neighborhood God-only-knows where. And even though I sometimes feel like we’re a bother or wasting their time, something inside of me sings when the kids feel comfortable enough to want these relationships in their lives.

Whew. No wonder I’m tired and sometimes talk to myself. One more day till we head for Illinois, where more adventure awaits.