November 06, 2010
This morning I dragged (drug?) myself out of bed and hopped in the shower and got all ready to go to church. I also hollered for the boys to get up and get going. A few minutes before it was time to go Dougie Junior came into my room and announced we had an hour extra because of daylights savings time.
woot woot!
So we totally forgetting about Fast Sunday and I promptly pulled out the griddle and made chocolate chip pancakes for the boys.
I had half a banana. My tummy still isn't up to par.
Then I was looking through an old journal and I came across this little piece of writing:
To My Boys:
"Living in Alaska has taught us some important lessons. There are wild animals living close to where humans live. Mother bears are very protective of their bear cubs. They teach their cubs to eat healthy food. Bear cubs use their noses to figure out where food is. Sometimes they smell something yummy coming from humans. Like if a family is out camping and they leave stuff open. Or if a family leaves their garbage out. The other day a man came home and found a bear rummaging around in his kitchen. The bear was pulling food out of the fridge and eating it. The man had to shoot the bear and kill it. Human food is not good for bears. It's not good for them because of the high level of salt and fat.
Bears were meant to eat berries and salmon and moose. That is their diet in the wild. But nutrition isn't what is concerning. The biggest danger is that if bears eat close to where humans live, they could be shot and killed. What if a Mama bear didn't teach her cubs to stay away from humans? What if she taught them to eat from garbage cans?
Dougie, Joey and Christian, your little minds are hungry to learn. Just like your body needs fuel in it so you can run and jump and ride bikes and be strong...your brain also is growing all the time. What you put into your mind will determine how your brain grows.
Just like a mama bear may occasionally allow her cubs to eat a cheeto that a camper left behind in the woods, I think it is okay for you to OCCASSIONALLY watch Sponge Bob Square Pants. But watching dumb television shows all of the time won't let your brain grow the way it should.
A baby bear that eats from garbage cans could be killed. Little boys who fill their minds with passive entertainment could eventually die spiritually. Your brain makes pathways as it grows. If you are getting lots of information from reading books, the pathways in your brains will grow toward good knowledge. Your brain is really amazing. It wants to learn and be entertained. It used to be that the only way little children were entertained was by playing outside or reading.
When you play in the sun and use the muscles in your body - It actually helps your brain to create pathways of experiencing God's beautiful world. Reading will help a brain grow well too.
It would be easier, and may seem like more fun to sit around and watch television. It may seem harder to read, at first. After you get into it, you will find it is MORE fun than movies. Your imagination will create a better movie in your mind than Walt Disney could ever create."
From my Journal of May, 2008
After I read what I wrote in my journal to the boys. I turned off the television, (they had already plugged in a Veggie Tales movie in anticipation of getting ready for church an hour early and having time to "kill" before church). I took one of my favorite books of the bookcase and began reading. They protested but I told them, "Parents are in charge of the choices, kids are in charge of the decisions. You can decide not to listen, but if you don't sit still and be quiet while I read, you won't have television privileges after church".
We read the first chapter of "The Yearling".
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