"Something Else" is Not on the Menu

I made an uneducated observation last month while caring for two grandsons for 182 consecutive hours. Not that I was counting or anything.

I’m grateful to have had the opportunity of getting to know these little guys well and for them to know and remember me. I will always treasure the two-year-old’s “Tankoo, Damma” for every little thing I did for him, and the four-year-old’s detailed and often bewildering explanations for life’s mysteries. I’m glad I could give my daughter and son-in-law this needed break.

But I also returned home with renewed understanding of why God gives children to young people—it takes an astonishing amount of energy! I don’t know how many times I found myself shaking my head, thinking “I don’t remember it being this hard!”

Honestly? I’m not sure it was. And not simply because I was younger.

Parents today are doing a lot of things far better than we did. I love seeing how my kids play with their kids and invest effort into creating warm, meaningful memories for them. I appreciate the safer car seats, healthier food, and appropriate disciplinary methods.

Still, experts keep telling us that today’s children (and their parents) suffer from stress-induced depression and mental illness in more alarming numbers than ever. I can’t help wondering if one contributing factor might be the myriad of choices set before them in a day. From their clothing, toys, books, food, activities—kids have dozens and even hundreds of options from which to choose.

Take television. When my children were little, we never had cable and the internet was still in the future. Weekday programming for preschoolers consisted of Mr. Dressup, Fred Penner, and Sesame Street. The only options were to watch or not watch. If you missed it, you missed it. As a young mom, I relied on those two hours each morning for my own sanity and to accomplish some uninterrupted work. No one told me it was too much TV.

Now, select “Kids” on Netflix any hour of the day and you can scroll through seemingly endless selections of shows designed to educate and entertain your children. That doesn’t include You Tube, regular TV, the Disney channel, Christian programming, or any other subscription services available. At the same time, parents feel overwhelmed with guilt as they’re warned of all the dangers to little brains and emotions that come with too much screen time.

My grandsons have more clothes in their dressers, more food in the fridge, more snacks in the pantry, more toys and books than their parents ever had. This isn’t a bad thing and I know it’s good for kids to practice choosing. I’m just not convinced a child of two or four is emotionally equipped to make so many decisions every hour of the day. Sometimes it’s more than enough for them to figure out whether they are hungry or cold or in need of a bathroom.

So when this grandmother declared that “something else” wasn’t on the menu, or when she picked out the pajamas in the interest of time, or when she narrowed down the storybook selection to only two, she felt like a big meanie. But for the most part, it worked. I suspect nobody suffered any long-term ill effects. And, in my unprofessional opinion, the result just may have been a little more peace, security, and well-being for all.