Chickens and Kids (2020 Revamp)

Once upon a time, I decided I really, really wanted chickens.  I spent countless hours perusing Pinterest to find out everything I needed to know about chickens.  

Then I spent countless more hours convincing my husband that chickens were an amazing idea and we could weekend warrior a coop–no problem.

Finally, I had him convinced, and the weekend warriors became embattled, broken down, over-worked, embittered serfs, subject to the chicken empire we had established.  

And on a dark night, just when my husband had lost the will to live, the coop was finally finished!

How peaceful it was to watch them scratch and peck, lay beautiful eggs, and come back to the coop at night to sleep …my agrarian fantasies were all coming true!

But one evening, I walked outside to shut the coop, and something wasn’t right. I ran to the coop to do a head count…three chickens missing.

And then I saw the feathers…and I realized that some #%*&@ just ate my chickens!  I was sad…and then I was angry, really angry, like I was gonna hunt that thing done and bring it to justice…angry.

Now this comes to the point in the story where you say, “Now what does this have to do with raising children?”  to which I will reply, “I don’t really know”…but I’ll take a crack at it.

What I learned from my chickens is that there are predators out there wanting to devour and destroy, and your job is to keep the predators away.

That coop is what protects your chicks and to lock that door at night is to keep bad things out, not to restrict the freedom of your chicks.  When I put locks on my computers and turn off safari on iPods and iPads, it’s not because I don’t trust my kids; it’s because I know that there are people out there looking to harm them, corrupt them, and even rip away their faith.  

I owe it to my kids to protect them from these people!

Back to the chickens…I promise this is going somewhere….one morning I went to let the chickens out;  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and it was open to the podcasts app.  I hadn’t dowloaded a podcast in over a year, so I thought that was odd…I call it a guardian angel moment.

Only a few days prior to this, my three year had gotten a hold of the iPad and managed to get into the podcasts app and downloaded a podcast with a sesame street character on it.  

I hate to say it, but  I was too busy to stop and take a look at it.  Something told me that the character voices seemed odd, but I ignored that little voice and went on with my day.

So now in the cool misty morning air, I decided to listen to it.  I was shocked to discover that it was actually an explicit podcast with the most vile language and subject matter, and the people who created the series intentionally made it to harm the innocence of little kids!  

This was from the pit of hell, people!

I felt like I had been punched right in the gut because I had failed my children;  I had failed to protect them from that vile group of individuals who made this disgusting podcast…one of those worst-mother-ever moments…you know the feeling, right?

There was no time to wallow in my misery.  I ran off to begin the interrogation of my children to find out who had listened to this garbage!

Thanks be to God, two of my older children had heard some rather colorful language coming from the iPad and turned it off before too much damage could be done.  But neither of them had thought to tell me about it…um, tell me next time!  Okay? Okay?!!

Sometimes we’re just too tired, or too busy, or too stupid to pay attention to the things that are threatening our children. We just are, and we are going to fail them.  

But, you know what?  God has them, He has them in the palm of His Hand. When your strength fails, His is there to catch you and your kids.

So, this begs the question, with all the evil in the world, why let them out at all?  Is it possible to protect them from all this evil forever?

Sadly, the answer is no. But here’s the good news, if you continually try your best to raise them in the faith, one day they will actually be ready to not only resist the evil, but fight the evil in their midst!

Your job is to protect your kids while they are young so that they can be emotionally, physically and spiritually ready to fight “the bad guys” when they get older.

For anybody who gardens, here’s an analogy that I’ve found to be true in raising kids. Just as you need to protect your little seedlings from the harsh conditions out in the world, so you need to protect your kids.

Plant a seedling into the harsh conditions of winter and it will die. It will not thrive.

Protect that seedling in your home until it is ready to thrive out in the elements, until it is strong enough to survive and you have a dang healthy plant that will bear much fruit.

The same goes for our kids. Don’t listen to those people suggesting you throw your kids out into the harsh climate we live in with no protection and no preparation.

Our little kids need things like logic, reasoning skills and faith to safely navigate all the soundbites of our culture. Those things take time and they can only be fully realized with maturity.

Send your kids out too soon and they will die, at least spiritually. Which is why you are the primary educator of your kids — whether or not they are in school — and you are the very best person to prepare your kids to thrive in this world, not just survive!

You know your kids best and you know what they need to successfully navigate this very confusing world with so many mixed messages.

So do you best and leave the rest up to God, because they are meant to go out into that world and share the gospel. Your job is to equip them to do that — not to keep them in your home for the rest of their lives.

Try your best, knowing that it is part of God’s plan that are have to let them go so they can go off and do beautiful things in this world. Maybe one day they will even start their own little brood that will work in God’s vineyard — doing their own beautiful things — in the world.

Perhaps the hardest part of being a parent is acknowledging that these people you love so darn much are meant to eventually leave your home.

You have known all along that they are yours, but they are also His, and He has a job for them to do, just like He does for you.  So pray hard, protect your kids as best you can,  and then you gotta put them in God’s hands.

So, you go, you keep trying your lousy best and let God take care of the rest!

Author’s Note: Originally published in June 2016. Updated with four more years of raising kids and a few more lessons learned. Hope you enjoy it!