PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

Spellcheckers are a blessing, a curse and can even be very insulting…all of which makes me think of parenting!  How is this so?  Consider with me:

• Spellcheckers are a wonderful blessing.  Before homes became so inundated with computers, I foisted the same parental nonsense onto my children that my parents piled on me, and which every parent has done – which still doesn’t make much sense…even though I would do it again!  When my children asked how to spell a word, I told them, “Go look it up in the dictionary.”  Come on now; if the child doesn’t know how to spell it, how are they going to look it up?!  Yeah, I know, I didn’t know how to spell it either.  And that’s why I told my children to go look it up!  It is better to look parental than stupid!  Nowadays the computer tells us a word is misspelled before we even know it is misspelled.  We type furiously and then look up and see a bunch of red squiggly lines.
• Spellcheckers are a curse.  No one today even cares whether they know how a word is spelled.  The computer let’s us know when it is wrong, gives suggestions, and even sometimes automatically corrects it.  Spelling tests will one day become as unnecessary as all the algebra, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, we were forced to take – I didn’t like math, can you tell?   What is another way the spellchecker can be a curse?  Win ewe ore eye dew knot type the write word, butt cents wee spelled the wrong word correctly, sew the spellchecker doesn’t no that hour word is knot the rite word.
• Spellcheckers are an insult…by that I mean they insult ME every time (it just did it!) I type.  I mistype a word, and an ugly, red, squiggly (it just did it again!) line automatically appears.  This inanimate, unliving (no, it doesn’t recognize that as a word, but who cares!), unsympathetic machine has the nerve to tell me I misspelled a word!  And if that isn’t insulting enough, even though (it just did it again!) it possesses more words than any dictionary I have ever used, it has the nerve to call me an idiot because apparently I misspelled the word so badly that my omniscient spellchecker has “no spelling suggestions.”  In other words, it knows I am wrong, it is telling me I am wrong, plus it is telling me I am beyond any hope!

So, what does this have to do with parenting?  Like spellcheckers, parents need to continually check their kids by being involved in their lives.  The way we do it might be a blessing, a curse, or insulting.

Good parents are a blessing when they think their children are a blessing to them.

• Psalm 127:3 – Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  (NAS95)

Sadly, not all children have parents, let alone good parents.  And yes, we might get them aggravated, and they might feel insulted, but in the long run they will consider us a blessing.  And it may be in the very long run. 

Good parents are not always appreciated for what they are, and that can become a curse if the children take them for granted.  Children need to bless their parents by being a blessing.  And just as the spellchecker can be a curse because it does not recognize that a correctly spelled word can be wrong if misplaced; we parents need to teach our children that while some actions are always wrong, some actions are wrong depending on their situation.  For example, what might be a right way to talk to their friends will be considered disrespectful if said to an adult.  Parents can curse their children too if they do everything for them.  Some parents spoil their children to the point that they are raising ignorant, lazy, spoiled…brats. 

Good parents will insult the intelligence of their children also.  Yes, you read that right.  When we tell a child no, that they are not thinking the situation through, the children might wonder if we consider them intelligent enough to make the right decision.  But what they can’t see – and it is not a matter of intelligence – is that experience and maturity are as important as smartness in making the right decision.  If we think about it, how many of us adults did something incredibly stupid as a kid…that our parents didn’t know about?!  And had they known, they would have said no. 

As aggravated as we might get at the spellchecker, how many of us turn it off?  I didn’t think so.  We are thankful for its interference.  So get involved, be there when your children might need you.  Become interested in what your child is interested in.  Become part of their life.  Be a “kid checker” and your children will one day thank you for your interference, too!

Deutertonomy 6:5-7 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [6] “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. [7] “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Check your children!  The only way we can check our children is by spending time with them.

And by the way, one of my children just asked me how to spell a word.  I spelled it for them…this time…because I knew how!

Tags: Parenting

This entry was posted by PHall on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 12:50 am and is filed under Deuteronony, Psalms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.