Is it Chocolate or is it Poop?

When my children were little, I never thought questions like this wouldn’t be part of my daily life. Thinking back, Bill and I pondered Jacob’s ‘movements’ at the dinner table on a regular basis. And we were serious… every parent knows what I’m talking about here… The right poop was usually a good indicator as to how much sleep we were going to get. And for new parents, that’s as serious as it gets.

Then, with more children, naturally, there was more ‘doo’, causing the scope of pondering to widen. And with that much to keep track of, some was bound to get away from us, which just very simply leads us to the unfortunate Chocolate/Poop question.

But one would think that once the kids all reach a certain age, the conversations involving the natural functions of their bodies would begin to taper off. But, I don’t know about everybody else, in my case…. not so much. Actually, just the opposite.

Turns out, almost every conversation I have with my kids has something directly to do with their bodies and what they’re doing through them, with them, and in them. And most of these conversations have something to do with discerning that very question…is it chocolate or is it poop?....just in a different sense.

What am I saying here? In other words, I spend a lot of time now encouraging them to ask themselves, “Is what I’m doing through my body, with my body and in my body something good and sweet and desirable…an activity worth seeking again and again or………. is it a waste? Or worse….something dangerous to consume or seriously worth avoiding contact with?”

So in that sense, while parents of young children might be thinking how lame it is that they find themselves asking that question literally, “Is it Chocolate or is it Poop?, I’m proposing, that as a parent of three(almost four) teenagers, maybe it’s really just a fertile training ground for what lies ahead. The more discerning you do as a parent when you’re children are young (of course, not only about the difference between the looks of chocolate and poop smeared on a particular surface….or person… but of spiritual as well as non-spiritual movements in your life) the more equipped you will be to raise discerning children.

Just something to think about…