Meg's Miscellaneous Monday Mentions!

Welcome to another glorious Monday! Today is a special day in the Chavez household as we celebrate Abigail's 9th birthday. Needless to say, we were all up at the crack of dawn, everyone too excited to sleep! Six little pyjama-ed feet raced downstairs (ok, so Keziah didn't quite race...she had to be carried...as did Elisabeth, who is carrying a 'wrestling' injury to her foot!) to see what amazing decorations awaited them. It is honestly a joy to us as parents to see all of our kids getting so much joy out of celebrating their siblings' birthdays, rather than just their own.
This week I have thought a lot about Abby turning 9. The usual reflections and questions like, "How did she grow up so fast? When did she jump from 9 months to 9 years?" run through my mind. I ponder these questions with every child's' birthday as I see before my very eyes the changes that are taking place in all of them. I praise God for the people they are becoming, especially as the older ones deepen in their faith and understanding of God.

While recognising that their growing up and maturing is all part of Gods' plan for them, and that our job as parents is to help prepare them for adulthood, I am reluctant to allow the pull of our culture to drag them into adolescence or adulthood before their time. In light of this battle to keep our children 'little kids' for as long as possible, I thought that this quote from Melanie over at 'This Ain't New York' presents some good advice in regards to not letting society dictate when our children will grow up. It is aimed at girls, but I think can equally apply to letting boys be little boys as long as they can on their way to manhood.

We need to let our little girls be little girls. Let them wear their princess pj's a little longer. Let them get their knees dirty. Let them dress up just to dress up. Let them have a boy friend and not label it "boyfriend." Let them be Little.

There are little girls acting like pop stars, pop stars acting like little girls, and young teens cutting, starving, hurting themselves and each other. There are six-year-old girls playing with dolls that look like street walkers and street walkers gaining fame from governors.

You can read the rest of her post here. I highly recommend it, especially for those of you who have little girls. I hope this encourages you as you seek to parent your children for Gods' glory!