My kid is like her parents...go figure.

Tirzah watched Rise of the Guardians quite awhile ago with her cousins while at her Grandma's house. I had never seen it and while I enjoyed the movie once I sat down to watch it I was not thrilled with how secular it was. Because of this I didn't want her to watch it again. She asked me a short time later if she could watch it again because she really liked it and I explained to her that I didn't want her to watch it again because they forget about Jesus in the movie. We talked about all of the places where Jesus should be in the movie and how he wasn't and she understood why I didn't want her to watch it again. 

A few weeks ago she said to me, "Mommy, I can watch Jack Frost (that's what she calls it) even though they forget about Jesus because I won't forget about Jesus." I was kind of taken aback. How did my child get so discerning so quickly? And didn't she watch that like 6 months ago or more? How does she even remember it or the conversation we had about it? Kind of off the subject but her memory always amazes me. 

Anyway, back to the point...I didn't really have anything to say to her. I wasn't sure how to respond because she was right, and with her incredibly logical and discerning mind I wasn't sure what the best course of action was. I couldn't just say no because in her world that simply wouldn't work. So I took a moment to pray and realized that my child is a lot like me and a lot like her Daddy, go figure. I always figured that as long as I knew the difference between reality and fantasy I didn't have a problem with watching fantasy because I knew the truth. And her Daddy is one who needs to sort out a problem for himself and is never satisfied with a pat answer. So, I told her that she could watch the movie again someday (we don't own it) and we could talk about it afterward and discuss where Jesus should be in the movie. 

Fast forward, we are back in Federal Way and living with her Grandma again (another story for another post) and today she asked me if she could watch the movie again. I let her earn the privilege to watch it by cleaning her room and afterward we talked through the movie and what the lessons were and where Jesus should have been. She was very aware and she not only knew all of the places where Jesus was missing  but also came up with some places that weren't so obvious. 

I know that parenting can be very challenging and I know that parenting a child like mine is going to be particularly challenging but I feel like in this moment, with this situation, God definitely pointed me in the right direction. I know that every child is different and our next will have different needs and will probably look at the world in a completely different way. All I can do is pray that God continues to guide us in parenting our children according to their individual needs and personalities.