Preschooler Theology: “Why Do Monsters Scare Me?”

What about teaching them to fight their own battles, their own fears with the Scripture? It would be great to teach our children few verses and have them memorize them and then use them in those moments of fear.

Have a blessed week.

Monsters are not alone. Nor is Christ. Nor the culture.
Tooth Fairy?
Santa Claus?
Easter Bunny?
Punxatawney Phil…..predictor of our weather!
The list goes on.

I have read much in recent times on the brain of a teenager, and how different it is from an adult brain. Yet, we as adults insist on reacting to teens with our adult brain (this is a tad wise, or we would be reverting to our own teen brain to teach them).

But THAT is what Christ did. He went from God, to human, to communicate with us on our level. I submit that the teenage brain is vastly more developed than the small child brain in topic here with Monsters. Indeed, the children have yet to reach the age of reasoning, thus society can convince them of a Santa, a Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy…..the latter broke my wallet to keep him alive.

Imagine a world of nostrils. That is what our children see every day as they look up.
We look up to God to make it through each day; the child sees a nostril.

Communicating with God, or children, makes it incumbant to get on your knees.
In the former case, it is a sign of respect and awe.
In the latter case, it brings the adult down to the level of a child to communicate with them on THEIR level. I can’t stress this enough!

This part of the above conversation captured my mind:

Abigail: So can we tell them to go away?

Me: Yep.

Abigail: Can you do it?

Me: Sure.

In a court of law, filled with adults, an “OBJECTION, your Honor”, would come swiftly here.

The question has been asked and answered already.
Sustained!
“Can WE tell them to go away”, is followed by the redundant “Can YOU tell them to go away”

The child has already received the answer, yet does not comprehend it. She comprehends that DADDY can do it, and that is enough!
[Sidebar: This becomes true for adults later, when we learn that Our father can do it all !]

We give children picture books, for they have not mastered the alphabet. Later, we teach words, sentences, and more. But in early years, they walk around (or crawl, closer to the floor than the ceiling, and see a world of nostrils.

I built a snowman with my daughter one year, when she was an Abigail, or thereabouts.
The lemon-sized snowball has little mass, and it takes a long time to become orange-sized, then grapefruit-sized, then basketball-sized, and more. But in a critical moment, I turn it but three times and can no longer move it. The mass is so great that weight makes it grow as insideously as summer weeds.

The process was repeated to make the middle of a snowman. But the “good snow” up close to the base has all been used to make the base. I moved further out to find snow for the middle. But it was so large that if I tried to roll it, the middle would become larger than the base. I had no choice; I rolled it and it grew. I huffed and puffed moving that snow ball of immensity, and soon realized IT would be the base, and the first ball would be lifted upon it to make a middle (I also was determined to give this snowman a very small head too.)

It drained my energy to lift the original base, onto the new base. I could NOT lift it, even with Karli’s little fingers helping me within her mittens. So I rolled it slowly up the side, to NOT mash the base and have to start over. I was exhausted and breathing furiously, like a pregnant woman doing her “huff-huff” they teach you in Lamaze class.

And those “huff-huff’s” looked like tiny marshmallows being poured from a huge bag.

“Did you see that Karli? Did you just see my breath?”

“Yeah DAD!”

You do it too”. And she did.
We looked like two cooling towers for a nuclear reactor, having great fun for her, and catching my breath for me.

“Do you realize what just happened Karli? The “invisible” became “visible”.
Do you ever see your breath in summertime? Or Fall? Or Spring?”

“No Dad”

“Then how can we see it NOW? The invisible breath is always there all the time, but we can only see it during the coldest times. What else can’t we see, but know that it is there?”

Karli pondered, then came up with TWO.
“Electricity…..and God”

I told her “we KNOW electricity is around when we turn on the light. But God, like our breath, often shows up in the coldest times of our lives. When you find yourself in a cold time, alone, and don’t know what to do, I want you to breathe in-and-out, just like we did now, and ask God to be with you closely. He can handle any cold problem you have, and any warm one too.
I could not push the snowman middle without your help. And someday, you will need help and I am not around. Ask God”

Speak Monster Theology in the language of a child.
Prepare them ahead of time….particularly by emphasizing TRUTH, everyday on other topics.
The enemy cannot confuse a child brined in truth, …..as easily as a child on its own.

And look for moments every day, like the snowman moment above, to preach Monster Theology and answer the question before it is asked.

Are they necessarily demons???  Can´t they just be good souls that are in some way connected to this child?  I used to see my husband in my room often when I was a child, and used to think this image was of some character in a show I used to watch as a kid.  30 years later, when i met him, i realized it was him.  He´s a few years younger than me, so he wasn´t born yet when he used to visit me.  So, no, kids don´t need to think they are demons, they are probably other spirits  that love your children and are connected to them at a soul level.