The Constant Hunt

Part of raising a godly seed (Mal 2:15) is to find toys and books that they can play with and you do not have to worry about them teaching values or ideas that you do not agree with. After all as the parable goes, you can clean your house but then 7 worse things will come in! Of course the first step is to sit down with your husband and talk about what you feel is acceptable and what is not. Using Scripture as your basis is key as well, after all they are in fact not our children but God's children! (really want to do a post on that).

We frequently sort through the Goons toys, deciding if they have too many that cannot be used for Biblical play. In a perfect world that would be all that filled our homes, but the reality is that then they would have almost nothing to do or play with! We try to keep a balance. At least 1/2 of their toys most be related to scripture. We so not allow "magic" into our homes, so out goes Walt Disney and all that comes with that, and a lot of the fairy tales. Yes this has made it challenging in the past but now that we have learnt some "tricks of the trade" so to speak.

Now you are wondering "why is there an Indiana Jones" in this post?!?!?!?

This is to show what we do:
1) Always take the time to search through the clearance rows in the store, you would be surprised at what you may find. It only take a few minutes to briefly glance through them and see if there is anything there that you can use/change.

So we saw a stack of these figurines and the others in the set and after inspecting the package saw some potential...

Throw out all the unwanted stuff, this time it included anything that mentioned that it belonged to that set/movie/junk... stickers, notepads, info packs, the fake idols that came with them (HUH???)

Now we have an archaeologist and a high priest, complete with linen breeches! If you are serious
about finding Biblical toys you need to sign up for your local "Christian" book store's newsletter, there is one by us that every 3 mths has a 20% coupon off of anything, and also a great bargain basement. EBay is also a great place to check, especially around Christmas and Easter! Speaking of which we found 4 great Bible colouring books last Spring in a craft store for $2 each!

Basically you need to keep your eyes open all the time, thinking "hmmmm how could we use this?" Now another issue for some is that Biblical toys/books seem to be more expensive then just your regular worldly goods! Hubby and I feel that this is money that is not simply spent but invested. Instead of investing in stocks and bonds we are investing in our children's well-being and godly character building. We also save up and get stuff for their b-days and Christmas gifts when you would normally spend more. Also asking for them from others in the family for gifts as well.

When did we start looking for Bible stuff....before Magoo was even born, it takes time and effort. So if you see something and think, oh I'll get that for them when they are such and such years old, think again. Another difficulty is that frequently businesses that make these go out of business. Prime example is the makers of the "Heroes of Faith" figurines, I thought I'd wait until Magoo was 4 yrs but guess what, the next year (when he was 4) they went bankrupted! Thankfully we were able to find a bunch online and also in local stores that were selling them off for cheap!

Does this take extra time and effort? yes, but I see it as part of my job in raising a seed to manifest our Heavenly Father.

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Anonymous said...
So what do you do with your kids while you are fixing dinner?

-I love answering questions! Thanks for asking! Well a variety of things really. You need to look at how old your child is and what their ability's are. While I am making dinner Magoo and Princess set the table (plates, cutlery, butter, condiments, hot mats, etc.) which takes a while. Also they frequently are helping me bake and cook. Having said that there are times when that just doesn't happen. Otherwise they usually just play nicely in the living room (they like to be close). Crafts and such are out of the question here as the dining room table needs to be cleaned and set and that is where we do crafts.

If it is nice out they can go outside and play, with the understanding that they MUST stay where Mummy can see them ie: only in the backyard near the deck. Another activity I will pull out while cooking is the felt board, Princess esp. loves playing with that. Sprout is usually in the highchair in the kitchen with me, with a snack and some small toys so that I know she is safe and happy!

Hope that helped!