My little photographer

Elisabeth took this one!

Taking action

For some time I have been on a mailing list for avaaz, an activist organization that seek to affect global policy through lobbying of various sorts. They craft their messages well enough to satisfy even me (I'm a terrible nit-picker) in pushing decision-makers toward responsible and sustainable policies.

So, first, I'd encourage you to check them out. Second, I'd commend this petition as one that tries to affect change in global food shortages by changing public policies (like encouraging westerners to burn food instead of oil).

Environmentally friendly parenting

My friend Jennifer is blogging this week about environmentally friendly parenting. She has some very helpful and concrete suggestions. And although her target audience is admittedly moms, most of what she has to say here is just as germane to dads.

So read, reduce, and enjoy!

Lobbying for the intentional use of words and books

I've been re-reading Honey for a Child's Heart for my work on tumblon. [I've been blogging more actively there than here.] I'm rediscovering why I loved it so much the first time. Here is one tidbit from Gladys Hunt:

"Every parent by words and choices furnishes the heart and mind of a child, for good or for ill. I am lobbying for the intentional use of words and books to influence a child in the best possible way. What do books bring a child? A recap is in order: a big world with all its possibilities - people to know and understand, places to imagine, eyes to see beyond the obvious, words to stretch the mind and heart, and a lasting stewardship of language used in the right way. (p101)

Sitting with tulips

The tulips are in bloom!

The trickle up effect

Lesslie Newbigin, explaining the theology of Augustine, states:

"Thus love creates order first in the family and among neighbors and then, by extension, in the city and the nation." (Foolishness to the Greeks p104)

Love creates order, beginning first in the family. Where parents love their children by calling them to love Christ, the proper order of all things is established: 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.' Then the second commandment falls in place, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' As Augustine says:

"Consequently, since he is ordered to love his neighbour as himself, he advises his neighbour [and children] also to love God." (ibid. p104)

Thus, notes Newbigin, "It is love that creates justice."

As a parent and educator, I marvel at the divine wisdom of this 'trickle up effect.' It begins in the home, in every home, where faith works through love. Love establishes order in the home, by which justice reigns, and character is formed. Those who experience such love and justice in the home are there prepared, by faith, to love their neighbors. The neighborhood is thereby infected with the love and justice of God through faithful parenting. And as the leaven works through the dough of society, love for God creates order "by extension, in the city and the nation."

The establishment of justice in society is not distinct from, but must flow from, faith in Christ shown in love, beginning in the home. Of this justice, John Owen rightly says,

"The greatest mercies and blessings that in this world we are made partakers of, next to them of the gospel and the covenant of grace, come to us through this channel and conduit ['the proper work of magistracy' i.e. good government]" (Overcoming Sin and Temptation p352).

In this season where all eyes are on presidential candidates, it is wise to set our hands also to the work that we can do in the home that is the gospel way to the just governance of the next generation.

Leap forward in figrative drawing

This is an enormous leap forward for Elisabeth in drawing what she sees! Until now, her drawings have consisted essentially of girls, flowers and rainbows. If you asked her to draw you somethinge else, you'd get a girl, a flower or a rainbow (or maybe all 3). Now maybe you'll get a mantid instead.

In Mom's boots

Leaving the ghetto

I'm re-reading Lesslie Newbigin's Foolishness to the Greeks, and am functionally blogging through it at gospel entrepreneurship, but can't resist posting a couple of quotes here as well.

"Christians can never seek refuge in a ghetto where their faith is not proclaimed as public truth for all." (p115)

Amen.

Back in the sandbox

Yesterday was the first day of spring in the sandbox!

Discipline pays dividends

Tonight I had a conversation with a friend in which he asked me, "Are you still enjoying fatherhood?" My answer was an emphatic yes.

I've been particularly conscious lately of just how worthwhile the difficult discipline of the second and third years has been. Now when I give Elisabeth a direction, I know that she will do it without the directive being repeated. When she disobeys, she knows that the way out is confession and repentance. It is the exception, rather than the rule, to hear a request not accompanied by please. And when she comes to me with a complaint about another child, I know that she has already tried to talk with the other child about it. All those things make fathering a delight.

So when we go to the playground and I see parents frustrated that their four-year-olds (not to mention the older kids) won't listen to them, I am all the more convinced that setting and enforcing clear expectations early has made parenting a joy for us, and has allowed Elisabeth to blossom.

Fun on the merry go round

Dying Easter eggs with Uncle Frank

Elisabeth had a fantastic time coloring eggs with Uncle Frank, and I failed to post any pictures . . . until now.

Hopscotch

I was quite surprised to find that Elisabeth can no do the entire hopscotch board without extra little jumps!

I think I need some onion food

On Monday, Elisabeth had her first filling. We went to the pediatric dentist a month or so ago, and were horrified to learn that she had several cavities. So we scheduled an appointment to have them filled as quickly as we could, and Monday was the big day. She was very brave, and the filling went really well, although her lip is swollen from the procedure.

On the way home we were talking about good foods to keep her tooth healthy and she announced,

"I think I need some onion food."

[She hates onions!]

Where did you get your name?

Last night as I was putting Elisabeth to bed, she asked me,

"Daddy, where did you get your name?"

I asked her who she thought gave me my name. She guessed and aunt and uncle before settling on Granddaddy and Grandmummy. Of course, that prompted another question:

"Who gave Mommy her name?"

Again, I turned the question on her. The same aunt and uncle topped the list as Mommy's name-givers. But eventually she figured out that Pop-pop and Grandma had given Mommy her name.

After I had tucked Elisabeth in, she wanted Mommy to tuck her in as well, and continued the same line of questions:

"Mommy, where did you get my name?"

Mommy explained that we had chosen the name because it means devoted to God. Elisabeth persisted:

"But how did you know how to spell it; you know, E-L-I-S-A-B-E-T-H?"

We still have a little ways to go on teaching phonics . . .

The Call of Stories

The Call of Stories is a powerful call to stories and through stories. Robert Coles, a pediatric psychiatrist and prolific author, writes brilliantly on the role that stories play in shaping character. He writes from the experience of teaching literature at Harvard to undergraduates, and in almost every one of Harvard's graduate schools. Time and again he recounts how stories affected his students in ways that challenged and changed them - in a way only stories can do.

Although Coles isn't dealing here with children's literature, the implications are clear. We engage in stories in a unique way, identifying with the characters, feeling outrage at wrong, and even coming to see our own hypocrisy. Stories, both oral and written, can and should play a significant role in the education, and moral and spiritual formation of children. To neglect great stories is to dispense with the most powerful and vital tool of education.

For parents interested in children's literature, this is an excellent book. I'll warn you in advance that for all its merits, the conclusion is decidedly lacking. Coles clearly perceives the powerful role that literature plays, but doesn't have a larger framework of purpose within which these forces make sense. Even with first rate insight, he comes up lacking because he doesn't see the ultimate purpose behind moral formation. However, for those who see that purpose, this book will be immensely helpful.

What is the 'earth'?

Elisabeth asked a question about geography recently, and I began by answering, "We live on planet earth . . ."
She quickly interrupted me, "What is the earth?"
I explained that the earth is the planet on which we live.
She stopped me again, "What is a planet?"
I said, "It is shaped like a ball."
"Where we live is like a rectangle [meaning flat], not a ball!" she retorted.
Apparently I'm going to have to pull out the simple activities through which we see evidence that the earth is, in fact, a sphere. I love teaching science!