Revelation and Prokofiev
A couple days ago, desperate for a change from our usual lunch time sound track of Matt Redman and Jason Gray (Littles has his favourites and subjects everyone to the same three songs multiple times a day--he comes by this honestly), I turned on the 1946 Disney version of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf for the boys. Educational and good for the digestion, right? Lazy Super Mom strikes again!
Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that we are very selective in what we let Littles watch. Not because we are those parents (though I have no problem being one of those parents) but because Littles has chronic nightmares that are easily exacerbated by watching seemingly innocent things.(Finding Nemo got him. Cars got him. A couple episodes of Veggie Tales even got him.) At any rate, since neither the Man nor I enjoy being woken up by blood curdling screams and having to share our already overcrowded bed (twinancy takes up a lot of space) with a kid whose feet are joined together by a metal bar at night...we don't let him watch very many things. And if he tells us that something is scaring him, we turn it off immediately.
So, I turned on Peter and the Wolf. Littles was curious about everything--the snow, Peter's gun, the different instruments--and Tiny was laughing hysterically at the antics of the little bird and the duck. And then the Wolf came on the scene, snarling and drooling viciously. And Littles immediately freaked out and asked to turn it off. I tried to explain that everyone makes it through alive, that Peter catches the Wolf, but no luck. So I turned it off. No big deal.
Less than two minutes later, having gathered his courage around him again (and possibly girded up his loins), he changed his mind and decided he wanted to watch the rest of it. Wondering if I was going to regret it around 2 a.m. after multiple trips down the hall, I turned it back on. And talked him through the rest of it.
As he jumped and started next to me, fearing for the life of the duck and the bird and Peter, I reminded him how the story ends: the Wolf is vanquished, Peter (with the help of the hunters) conquers!
That's when I realized how crucial it is for our children to have an understanding of the concept of evil. If the Little Man is constantly shielded from what is "scary" and "evil" (the Wolf, in this case), he will have no concept of courage and perseverance. Neither will he ever truly understand the hope that we have in Christ--death is defeated, we know who wins! I want him to understand that we can walk in hope through our lives regardless of the fears and challenges we may face, because we understand the long-term outcome.
I want my little men to grow up into strong, fearless warriors, and that is only possible if they understand that evil exists (not just in the abstract, but also in the tangible--this is what their father fights against every day) and have that understanding tempered by the astounding joy found in knowing how the story ends. Evil is vanquished; Christ conquers all!
Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that we are very selective in what we let Littles watch. Not because we are those parents (though I have no problem being one of those parents) but because Littles has chronic nightmares that are easily exacerbated by watching seemingly innocent things.(Finding Nemo got him. Cars got him. A couple episodes of Veggie Tales even got him.) At any rate, since neither the Man nor I enjoy being woken up by blood curdling screams and having to share our already overcrowded bed (twinancy takes up a lot of space) with a kid whose feet are joined together by a metal bar at night...we don't let him watch very many things. And if he tells us that something is scaring him, we turn it off immediately.
So, I turned on Peter and the Wolf. Littles was curious about everything--the snow, Peter's gun, the different instruments--and Tiny was laughing hysterically at the antics of the little bird and the duck. And then the Wolf came on the scene, snarling and drooling viciously. And Littles immediately freaked out and asked to turn it off. I tried to explain that everyone makes it through alive, that Peter catches the Wolf, but no luck. So I turned it off. No big deal.
Less than two minutes later, having gathered his courage around him again (and possibly girded up his loins), he changed his mind and decided he wanted to watch the rest of it. Wondering if I was going to regret it around 2 a.m. after multiple trips down the hall, I turned it back on. And talked him through the rest of it.
As he jumped and started next to me, fearing for the life of the duck and the bird and Peter, I reminded him how the story ends: the Wolf is vanquished, Peter (with the help of the hunters) conquers!
That's when I realized how crucial it is for our children to have an understanding of the concept of evil. If the Little Man is constantly shielded from what is "scary" and "evil" (the Wolf, in this case), he will have no concept of courage and perseverance. Neither will he ever truly understand the hope that we have in Christ--death is defeated, we know who wins! I want him to understand that we can walk in hope through our lives regardless of the fears and challenges we may face, because we understand the long-term outcome.
I want my little men to grow up into strong, fearless warriors, and that is only possible if they understand that evil exists (not just in the abstract, but also in the tangible--this is what their father fights against every day) and have that understanding tempered by the astounding joy found in knowing how the story ends. Evil is vanquished; Christ conquers all!
