From the very beginning of our marriage, Amanda and I always wanted to instill a love of reading in our kids. It gives me joy when I see Jack go pick out a book, sit down and “read” through it. Evie has even started looking through books by herself too. That’s what she was doing when she fell and scratched her cornea on a corner of a book this week.
I think it is important for us to examine why we read to them and also, what we read to them. I encourage you to read all kinds of books to your kids. Fairy tales, fables, poems, cartoon character books, chapter books; there are a lot of good ones. Our house is filled with all different kinds of kid’s books. I want to give them a lot of variety in a wide range of subjects, but I do have some guidelines on what I want to be putting into their minds. There are some books that I don’t really like reading to my children. They aren’t necessarily bad books, I just don’t care for them. Let me tell you why.
It may sound weird, but I don’t really like books that try to teach morals to my kids. A couple of examples that I'm familiar with would be Clifford the Big Red Dog or any of the Sesame Street books. We have a lot of these books and my kids still read them every now and then, but I usually tell them to go pick out another book. The reason being is I don’t need Elmo telling my son that he should share his toys or not to look down at another monster because he has different colored body hair. I have Jesus to tell him to love his neighbor as himself and the apostle Paul to tell him that there is no Jew or Gentile, but that we are either in Christ or not. I am the one who guides and disciples my children in their moral upbringing and I use the Word of Almighty God to do it, not the wisdom of Snuffleupagus. If Elmo wants to go walk his dog in the park and have a crazy, silly, funny adventure along the way, I’m fine with that (except for the fact that he only speaks in the third person, which drives me insane). I'll read those types of Sesame Street books to them, but the reason I read books to my kids is not to give them moral guidance. It’s to give them a big imagination and to teach them to use their mind.
Another thing I don't want in a kid's book is sinful behavior that is overlooked, tolerated or seen as cute. I loved Curious George books when I was a boy. I still have a lot of them that I kept for my kids, but what Amanda and I noticed as we were re-reading them as adults and parents, is that George is not obedient and he doesn’t get punished for it. I know it may sound silly because he is a monkey, but he portrays a child who is under the guidance and authority of a father (the man with the yellow hat). Whenever he does something that he is not supposed to, it is never addressed as sin nor is there any consequence. “George, you just killed three people by driving a bull dozer through the park, but I guess it’s okay because you made really great blueberry pancakes at the fundraiser breakfast and raised a lot of money for the hospital.” That of course was a slight exaggeration, but you get my point. It teaches that there is no consequence to sin or that you can make up for it, which is works righteousness.
Also, we don’t have very many Bible story books in our house. I am very particular about children’s books with regards to Scripture. I’m not a King James Only type person at all, but I take God’s Word very seriously when it comes to putting it into my kid’s mind. Do you have memories of something you learned when you were a kid, but when you got older you found out it wasn’t completely correct? Do you remember how it totally rocked your world when you found out the truth?
My ancestry is part native American, so I was always told that I have Indian blood in me. Unfortunately, my grandmother also told me, when I was young, that I had turkey blood in me. So whenever it came up at school, I would tell the other kids that I was part Indian and part Turkey. No matter what objections I heard, I listened to none of them. I would have died a martyrs death to defend my beloved Turkey-Forefather’s namesake. It wasn’t until I was about ten did it finally hit me that my grandmother was just making a joke. I’m serious.
Well, I don’t want to do that to my kids with the Bible. If we teach only a half-truth of Scripture, it can stay with them for a long time. Here is something that will not make me popular: I don’t like VeggieTales. It’s because they don’t do justice to the text and I don’t want them putting an incorrect vision of what a story is about into my child’s mind. Davey didn’t throw a tiny pebble at a giant pickle because he was being a meanie. No, rather, David knocked out Goliath and then went and cut off his head in the name of God because the giant was blaspheming. That’s the story my son knows because that is who I want him to be like. I want him to defend the name, honor and glory of God at the risk of his own life. This is how I teach my son to be brave. And VeggieTales can mess that up. David and Bathsheba wasn’t about stealing a rubber ducky. It was about adultery, lying, murder, judgement, repentance and forgiveness. That is what I’ll teach my kids. I do like the Silly Songs, though. Just not the Bible stuff.
I’m not saying that there aren’t any good kid’s Bible books out there, but just make sure that it is a good one before you buy it and especially before you read it. There are a few that I like. I have already mentioned one of them before.
-101 Favorite Stories from the Bible, by: Ura Miller
I really love this book. Mr. (or Mrs., not sure) Miller summarizes the stories very well and talks about sin and wickedness and repentance whenever the Bible talks about it. He doesn’t sissify it, he just makes it more concise. It has text on one page and an illustration of the story with a memory verse on the other.
-Teach Them To Your Children, by: Sarah Wean
This is a good book that has short, one page stories about Christian virtues and morals based on Scripture. It starts with the Scripture and builds the story around it, not the other way around. It’s not shoehorned in or superficial at all. It has the memory verse at the end of each story.
-Big Truths For Little Kids, by: Susan & Richie Hunt
This is the catechism book I talked about in a previous post. It’s an extremely great way to teach your kids Biblical theology through the catechism as well as the great stories.
Other than these, for right now, I only use the Bible to teach my children about their father’s God. Jack has graduated to reading straight Bible with me and Evie is now on 101 Favorite Stories in the Bible. I read NIV, ESV, and NASB versions of the Bible to Jack. It just depends which one I have with me. I am not really concerned about how hard a translation is, just as long as I take the time to explain words to him. If your kids can understand you, they can understand the Bible. Jack is only three and a half and he can sit for about an hour and listen to a story. Train them. It’s hard and it takes time, but you can do it.
Well, that’s all. This post is already way too long.
Stay faithful and persevero!
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