Safe Harbor

Eva is copying a lot of what she hears, and some of it is downright adorable.  She’ll tell Rebel “How you doing, buddy?” after hearing Dave say it, or tell Amanda, “Don’t cry, sweetheart” after hearing me comfort sister.   Eva likes to sing along to the radio when we’re in the car, and very often gets the words right.  She now loves Veggie Tales and Cars.  Eva is very observant and catches on to things quickly, so we’re very careful about what media messages we allow her to be exposed to.  We wait until she’s in bed before watching a non-kid movie, and we make sure the music they hear is family-friendly. 

 

Some people may consider that “sheltering”, but Dave and I believe that sheltering young children from too much, too soon, is appropriate.   Small boats that get pounded by waves outside the breakwater tend to sink. That's why we provide harbors for them. Young children need a safe harbor from which they can learn, grow, and eventually launch out into the world. They don't need to be pounded by the waves at such young and impressionable ages.  The purpose of "shelter" is not to hide from reality, but to protect a child's innocence until they are old enough, mature enough, and have a strong enough foundation to stand strong against society's unhealthy media onslaught. Kids only get to be kids for a few brief years, compared to the multiple decades they'll spend as adults. What's the rush to grow up so fast?  I’d rather let our kids enjoy being kids for as long as they can!

 

We believe there’s a difference between innocence and naiveté: the naïve have no clue about the world around them, while the innocent are perfectly aware of the ways of the world and its values, but have the moral foundation to withstand negative influences.   Having had a lot of experience with this growing up, I wrote an article (of course) about “How to Preserve Childhood Innocence”: http://www.ehow.com/how_4481646_preserve-childhood-innocence.html  I can’t thank my parents enough for letting us enjoy our innocence when we were young, and then teaching us to think critically about the influences we were exposed to as we got older.  This is the heritage we hope to pass on to our girls.