Where's the Joy in Joysticks?

A couple Sundays ago, I found myself in the rotation to teach children's church. We had more kids than usual, many of which were just visiting our church for the Sunday. As we delved into the lesson about the different ways God answers prayer, I found myself wanting to curl up in a stained-glass window nook for awhile and pray God would answer my prayer for the kids to pay attention!

My biggest frustration with the kids that evening wasn't that my feelings were hurt when the kids didn't listen. I admitted I felt somewhat unprepared, and I am also not the best disciplinarian out there (I think Mom-dom is when you learn that for real) But the biggest thing that broke my heart about children's church was the content of the conversation that kept the kids from listening to the Bible lesson. The culprit? VIDEO GAMES.

I stink at video games. I remember struggling through Atari games when I was little, and then as a teen getting beat by my little brother at any game imaginable on the Play Station, errr, whatever it was. I'm one of those people who moves the controls when they play: if I want my character to jump, I make my hands jump. I'm a big goober. So maybe that's why I disliked the kids talking about video games the whole time. I know they're small. I know they have a lot of learning to do. They are not the holiest little suckers ever, and no one should expect that of them. But I could see how in their world of wizards, ninjas, gnomes, and dragons, praying to God just didn't seem to thrill them much. They rattled on, talking as if they were actually the characters in the games, like "I killed the dragon with my magic purple laser gun" and stuff like that.

Today, it seems that the latest entertainment is focused on sedentary things that take place indoors. Sure, it may promote eye/hand coordination, problem solving, quick thinking, and the like. But what children are losing out on is HUGE. A true sense of adventure, where they themselves are catching frogs, jumping off boulders into cool rivers, and swinging from vines in the forest. A true sense of imagination, where they narrate their own stories of far away lands, instead of letting someone else's imagined lands keep them from dreaming of their own.

Only a couple days after the children's church incident, as I still was mulling things over in my head, Dr. Mohler had an interesting topic on his radio show. Please read the following excerpt, and if nothing else, consider how to raise your own children so they still find wonder in the simple things: like talking to a supernatural God, and making mud pies. You can read the rest at Dr. Mohler's Blog.

Have Children Forgotten How to Play Outdoors?

Author Richard Louv believes that America's children are now suffering from a syndrome he identifies as "nature-deficit disorder." In his new book, Last Child in the Woods, Louv suggests that the current generation of American children knows the Discovery Channel better than their own backyards--and that this loss of contact with nature leads to impoverished lives and stunted imagination.

"In reality, many children have almost no contact with nature. They play indoors, focusing on electronic screens that produce an artificial experience. They are surrounded by creature comforts and watched over by anxious parents who are afraid that violent criminals are lurking behind every green tree. "Our society is teaching young people to avoid direct experience in nature," Louv observes. "That lesson is delivered in schools, families, even organizations devoted to the outdoors, and codified into the legal and regulatory structures of many of our communities."