When my daughter turned 1, my parents bought her a Little Mermaid tent. She loved it. She could crawl inside and be all by herself and play with her stuffed animals. The first time I crawled in I was a little shocked…the only thing I could see was a giant half naked girl with a shell push up bra staring back at me!

When High School Musical first came out, and every living and breathing middle school girl was in love with Zac–I was at WalMart and saw a little girl about 5 years old wearing a High School Musical shirt. It stared at her because it was so incongruous. She was probably not even in kindergarten and she already liked a movie about High School so much she wanted the shirt?! Granted, she probably had older siblings. I know, there wasn’t any kissing in the movie. Yeah, it’s Disney. But a five year old wearing a HIGH SCHOOL shirt?

One of my friends was telling me about a mom she knew with a three year old. She said the three year old knew every word to the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift and “isn’t that cute?!” We both looked at each other and said, “No. Not really. He’s three.” (Of course, that mom wasn’t there so really the conversation may have leaned toward the gossip-y side…)

Why do we feel the need to push our kids into age groups older than them? Why can’t we let little kids be little kids? I don’t want my three year old watching OR desiring to watch Hannah Montana. I don’t want her listening to or WANTING to listen to the new pre-teen pop star. I want her to stay a child as long as possible. I want her to be naiive to the things of this world. To be innocent about sin. To be soft and pliable for as long as possible.

In Song of Solomon, King Solomon’s lover tells the women of Jerusalem, “Don’t stir up love. Don’t wake it up until it’s ready.” Our society has pushed our kids to awaken love too early—and not just love or sexuality, but just grown up stuff! And then when they are 10 and 12 and want to go to the movies with a boy and are copping attitudes with us, we wonder why!

For me, I am protecting my kids from grown up stuff. I’m trying to keep them childish as long as possible. And I know I might be a little strict but, here are some of the things I do…

• We watch kids’ shows. Old school kids shows even.
• We do NOT watch shows geared to elementary kids or adults. Period.
• We listen to kids’ music. Not elementary school kids music. Preschool music.
• We don’t talk about boyfriends, high school or “big kid” stuff like it’s something we’re missing out on.

HOWEVER, instead of making these a RULE that she has to follow, it’s more of an unspoken way of behavior. We watch kids’ shows and she loves them. We listen to preschool music and when my husband turns on his “cool” music, she doesn’t like it. She talks about having a husband and being a mom. It’s just the way it is–we make it desirable AND then it IS desirable.

It’s your turn! How do you keep your kids KIDS? What age appropriate things do you purposely do with your kids?

ps–this post was inspired by a great post I read at Modern Mami’s this week…

All verses are taken from the New International Reader’s Version.

What amazing promises are there in God’s Word for those who cry out to Him, who call out to Him in prayer!

Psalm 18:6
When I was in trouble, I called out to the Lord. I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice. My cry for help reached his ears.

Psalm 34:17
Godly people cry out, and the Lord hears them. He saves them from all of their troubles.

Psalm 57:2
I cry out to God Most High. I cry out to God, and he carries out his plan for me.

Psalm 88:13
Lord, I cry out to you for help

Psalm 119:147
I get up before the sun rises. I cry out for help. I’ve put my hope in your word.

My husband and I started crying out to the Lord for our children before we had them, and we continue to lift them up to the Lord, covering them in prayer.  We wanted to make prayer an important part of their lives, so from infancy, we have prayed out loud over them.  We pray at mealtimes and at bedtime.  We encourage prayer throughout the day, and the boys frequently hear me call out to the Lord for help during the day (mostly for patience…).

We started hearing Elias cry out to the Lord just after he turned two.  While he was sitting in time out one evening, we heard, “PLEASE, LORD! PLEASE, LORD! Make me better!” in the middle of his sobs.  Our hearts broke as we heard his call to the Lord, and we thanked the Lord for the encouragement we drew from Elias’s little prayer.

Elias continues to cry out to the Lord – frequently in time out – and his prayers swing from a self-centered 3 year old’s prayer (“Please make Donovan give me back my car!”) to prayers of repentance (“Please make me better so I don’t hit Donovan anymore!”).  His time out prayers still begin with the loud cry, “PLEASE, LORD! PLEASE, LORD!”

I learn so much from his prayers – the simple prayers of a child.  They are simple, but they are exactly what the Lord wants – the cry of his heart.

Psalm 142:5
Lord, I cry out to you. I say, “You are my place of safety. You are everything I need in this life.”

He is everything we need in this life, and He is the only thing that can “make us better.”

Psalm 5:3
Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I pray to you. I wait for you in hope.

Psalm 42:8
During the day the Lord sends his love to me. During the night I sing about him. I say a prayer to the God who gives me life.

Amanda shared some of her thoughts on prayer last week – what a beautiful way to pray for your kids!  It’s so important to teach kids to pray Scripture from the beginning, too – it can never be too early for them to learn that God’s Word never returns void!  Memorizing Scripture is a good way to get that started….

… and now it’s your turn… how do you incorporate prayer into your children’s lives?

I get the feeling sometimes that I’m the “mean mom.”  Do you know what I mean?  The mom who doesn’t let her son do what his little friends are doing, or have what they have…

I’m already tired of being the “mean” one.  But I realize I’m going to have a lot more of this feeling in my life as Elias gets to be more aware of what is out there and what he wants.

I really do not knock other parents for letting their children do what I don’t let mine do.  I promise!  My husband and I do have our priorities, though, and they seem to be different than many others.  We have chosen for me to stay at home, and the financial ramifications of that are the most visible… My husband’s job is able to provide everything we need, but we still are living paycheck to paycheck.  That means not having all the toys that Elias (already!) wants, going to all the classes his friends are going to, even eating lunch out with friends on a regular basis.  We wind up staying at home a lot, playing with what we have and not even tempting ourselves (ehem… by this I mean me, too) by seeing what others have and are doing.

At this point in Elias’s life, this is most deeply felt with the toys he wants.  He has TONS of toys – gifts, and yes, even the occasional splurge on my part – but there are toys that are out there that his little 3 year old heart desires, that I know are not beneficial for him, for his spirit, for his imagination, or our wallet.  All those combined lead me to the conclusion that that toy (or class or whatever) is not a priority for us.

It is easy at this point in his life to distract him, but I am also working to instill in his heart a sense of gratitude for what we have and that God will provide all we need.  And no, we don’t need that…

I had been struggling with how to say what I mean in this post – not to offend, but to present what is on my heart… and last week, these two posts really touched my heart.  It looks like God is working in many peoples’ lives, calling them to Him and Him alone.

The priority that we are setting to  “…be happy with what you have…”( 1 Timothy 6:6) is just one aspect of how our family’s priorities may be different from others.  So now it’s your turn… how do you teach your little ones your family’s priorities, especially when they are different from others’?