Stranger Danger and Other Life Lessons

We watch a lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (DTN) in our house.  If you've not seen it, I highly recommend it.  Its basically Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, but updated and animated (noteworthy: a recent study in the Journal of Children And Media has linked watching Daniel Tiger to children becoming more emotionally intelligent (source) )  It has been beneficial on so many levels, but the only objection I have to it is that it does not teach any sort of stranger danger.  Please don't get me wrong, I love the premise that everyone is our neighbor.  We even call everybody "Neighbor" when we are out and about.  So much so, that people have even stopped to say, "Oh, are we neighbors? Do we live by each other?" and it allows the opportunity to say, "We are all neighbors" and remind my children of Matthew 22:37-40: 
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."  

However, even neighbors have their demons running through them, and not everybody is as trustworthy as they are deserving of love.

Last night I had the perfect opportunity to finally get that message across to them.  Since I have the best nanny in the world who gets almost all of the household chores done and makes sure my kids are bathed and clean by the time I get home from work (thank you Cait!), I get to spend my evenings actually spending quality time with my children instead of stressing over my "single parent" duties while my husband is out of state for the work week.  We took a break from watching DTN and the boys picked "The Jungle Book" (recent/non animated version) for our post dinner screen time. (Spoiler alert:  If you haven't seen The Jungle Book, expect some scene descriptions!)  I watched them as they watched the screen and could see the wonder and amazement in their eyes as the very realistic looking animals spoke a language they understood.  Shere Khan made his appearance and you could feel the intended intimidation fill the space.

"Oh man, that Shere Khan is mean," I spoke just above a whisper. "He's a mean tiger.  He's not at all like Daniel Tiger."  And in that moment I could see the dots connect for them that Daniel and Shere Khan were both tigers.  That's when I had my own epiphany.  "Daniel is a nice tiger, but Shere Khan is a mean tiger.  Just like how some neighbors are nice neighbors, but some neighbors are mean."  Bing! Light bulb on.  Even through the flickering lights from the television dancing across their tiny faces, I could see their wheels turning.
Thank you God.  But how do I teach them about deception? Not all neighbors appear as mean as they really are.  Some appear nice and friendly, when they are not.  2 Corinthians 11:14 :"And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."

And wouldn't you know it, He provided me another opportunity to teach just that.  The scene where Mowgli meets Khan in the jungle came on.  "I'll keep you sssssssafe" the snake whispered to Mowgli as it distracted him and slowly wound itself around the boy's deceived little body, ready to constrict and consume him.  "Khan isnt going to keep him safe at all!" I pointed out to my boys.  "Look at what the snake is doing!  He's going to squeeze him and eat Mogwli!  Sometimes we can not trust what somebody is saying, and we need to watch what their actions are."
Thank you Lord.  Your Spirit moves so swiftly to answer and aid.  Please help me teach my children how to praise and thank You.

Once more, He provided divine inspiration and answer to my inquiry. 

Mowgli and Bagheera were making their way through the jungle when a herd of elephants began to parade past them.  Bagheera bows down and instructs Mowgli to do the same.  When Mowgli inquires why they are bowing, Bagheera explains, "The elephants created this jungle.  They made all that belongs, the mountains, the trees, the birds in the trees..."  

"What they doin', Mama?" the child snuggled in close on my right asked me.  "Well they are bowing down to the elephants because the elephants created the whole jungle.  They are doing that to show respect. [[BING!]] Kind of like how we bow down to God, because God made the heavens and the earth and the stars and the sky and He made you and me, too.  So we bow down to Him to show our respect."

I felt on top of my parenting game last night.  Some days are just a blur of screeches, screams, food crumbs, dog hair, but other days are filled with snuggles, laughter, and pivotal moments such as these.  And do you know what days those are?  The days that I ask for help. The days I chose not to do it alone, and ask my Father to guide me.  I just needed to ask.  I hope that you do too. 

​Matthew 7:7-8 (KJV): "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

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