Four Levels of Maturity: Childhood, Part 2

In this post, I’m continuing my study of fiction and faith, how they intersect, and what to do when they collide—basically, how to build fiction guidelines. This week I’m considering the boundaries as applied to the maturity of children, both physically and spiritually.

First a quick review of characteristics, which we studied last week:

1) Children are curious about everything.
2) They learn through imitation.
3) Their world is rule-oriented.

Each of these characteristics affects how children see the world—including fiction. And with these characteristics come special advantages and dangers.

Advantages: A sense of wonder and the ability to learn through example—whether real or fictional.

Dangers: Lack of discernment, which might lead to mimicking evil, and a susceptibility to prejudice against anything different.

Basically, a child’s greatest strength is also his greatest hazard. Because they learn through imitation, children can do more things sooner than if they must receive step-by-step instruction for everything. But because they learn through imitation, they will mimic bad things as well as good, and they can become very adamant that this way is the only way, even if it’s not the best or healthiest for them.

Childhood Safeguards

What does this mean for a child’s reading? They need heroic heroes. (I’m using hero here as a term for the character, male or female, you root for in a story.)

I know that with the emphasis on realism happily-ever-after endings, virtuous good guys, and pure evil villains are often pushed aside as romantic delusions. After all, no one is pure evil and no one is totally good (except God Himself).

But that clear-cut definition is the very thing children need, for they will often strive to emulate fictional characters. Why else do girls want to be Cinderella and boys want to become Spiderman or other superheroes? So since they learn by imitation, the heroes in their stories need to be worth imitating—even if that means creating somewhat idealistic characters.

Does that mean the hero (male or female) can never have flaws?

No, though the mix does depend on a child’s age (the younger the child, the more clear the separation). But a child must want to imitate the good, and that is achieved through the same way discipline is at this stage: the consequences, good and bad, must be immediate and tangible. Snow White must live and get the prince; her stepmother must die. Distorting this clear-cut right and wrong can distort a child’s developing discernment.

Therefore, since parents are still keeping a close eye on their child’s reading at this stage, they need to encourage their children’s growing discernment (imperative for the next stage of maturity) by seeking out the stories that promote heroism, shunning the ones that don’t, and discussing the tales that blur the lines.

Childhood Christians

Christians that have reached childhood in their maturity often need many the same things that physical children do: heroes who try to do right, who get in trouble when they commit wrongs, and are ultimately rewarded by tangible means for doing right (guy gets girl, kingdom is saved, family harmony restored).

What does that mean for your reading? It broadens your horizons as a reader and watcher. Almost all Christian fiction will be suitable for your consumption, and since the focus is on the broad strokes of right and wrong now, limited selections of the secular (both film and novels) can be added in.

However, I must warn against an added danger that childhood Christians face, especially ones who have taken the Christian-only route of infancy: the prejudice of the different.

Like a child who insists there’s only one way to do something, many Christians insist that we should read and watch things that are strictly “Christian”—their fiction world has become rule-bound. Christians like this tend to condemn anyone who reads, watches, or writes outside these strict boundaries as un-Christian and evil.

That’s not necessarily true: those works may simply be written by and for Christians with more discernment and a higher maturity level. That doesn’t mean there aren’t stories that cross the boundaries (we’ll cover more on that with the freedom-loving teens), but we need to exercise caution before condemning a story. Very few stories in ABA (secular reading) or CBA (Christian market) are totally good or totally bad.

(For a more in-depth look on the problems of the Christian-only route, check out my post on that topic.)

Overall, childhood Christians need to seek out good stories with clear-cut right and wrong, guided by a trustworthy mentor.

100th Post!

Okay, so in the world of blogging, maybe a hundred posts aren't that big of a deal. But we're in the middle of the Christmas season and I'm under a deadline cruch, so any milestone--no matter how small--is a reason to celebrate.

The only question is how?

I'm thinking malted milk balls and a short Christmas movie.

What about you? How do you think I should celebrate?

An Unpublished Novelist’s Christmas Wish List

Every year after Thanksgiving, tradition dictates I turn in a Christmas wish list to my parents. Writing up a wish list is always fun because, as my parents would always tell me, I can ask for anything. That didn’t mean I’d get it, but since I could ask for the impossible, I often did just for the fun, including everything from horses to boyfriends over the years. Nothing wrong with dreaming big, right?

So in the spirit of that tradition, here are ten things off my Christmas writing wish list:

1. Many fantasy and science-fiction novels.

2. A printer that never runs out of ink or has paper jams, and always prints exactly what I want every time no matter if I hit the right commands or not.

3. A gift certificate to Amazon or CBD so I can buy more books. A hundred dollars or so should keep me supplied for a couple months. :o)

4. A book contract with a multimillion-dollar advance. (Hey, I’m dreaming big, remember?)

5. More books and the time to read them all.

6. The Perfect Writing Space. What does that look like? I don’t know, but it would be a place where I never have writer’s block and the story come out right the first time.

7. Did I mention books yet?

8. A magic pen that can write faster so I can get all those ideas floating around in my head on paper.

9. Additional bookshelves (and the space to put them) to hold all those new books.

10. That one thing I write in the coming year—whether a sentence or a blog post or a full novel—will touch/change one heart for the Glory of God.

Four Levels of Maturity: Childhood, Part 1

Childhood Characteristics

The first day of school. First sleepover. First bicycle. Childhood is a time of firsts, of growth and learning, of exploration and milestones. Development is rapid, punctuated by one endless string of “Why? How come? What’s that?” And oh, let’s not forget, “Let me.”

No longer dependent wholly on adults, children taste their first freedoms. Granted, it’s usually under strict supervision, but nonetheless, children are eager to do all things themselves, whether dressing or reading a book or figuring out a puzzle.

Out of this desire for independence come many good traits: wide-eye wonder of even the simplest things, curiosity about everything, a tendency to imitate. That makes teaching them easy—they’re malleable, eager to learn, and willing listeners (most of the time).

From this we can see children learn through:

1) Imitation—their insistence to do it themselves.

2) Step-by-step instruction—not only must they do it themselves, but they must do it exactly the way the person they’re imitating does it.

3) Tangible consequence—no longer is it “don’t.” Now commands are accompanied by simple explanations: “Don’t touch the stove—you’ll burn your hand.”

Of course every trait has its downside. The questions are great until it’s about your authority (“But why must I clean my room?”). Curiosity is desirable until they want to do something that’ll harm them (hence “childproof” bottles). Mimicking is cute and funny until it’s a bad habit (“But Mommy/Daddy does that”). But overall, these characteristics are an advantage of this stage.

Childhood Christians

Just like we saw with infancy, childhood has its parallel in the spiritual journey. Christians young in the faith are just learning discernment, often seeing the world in definite right and wrong. But this first taste of freedom, just like in real children, only whets the appetite to know more. Their enthusiasm and wonder over the simplest truth can be quite refreshing to older Christians who sometimes take such truths as commonplace.

And like children, these young Christians tend to imitate quite strictly the role models in both action and theology. This is wonderful in many ways—it makes them teachable and malleable. But it can also be a danger, for no one except Jesus Christ is infallible. Ever heard a Christian say in defense, “But Pastor So-and-so says this is true”?

Because of all this, childhood Christians tend to be more rule-oriented. Evangelism is a step-by-step process. Life is restricted by lists, usually accompanied by simple explanations: “Attend church, Sunday school, Bible study regularly so you will grow.” That is only partially true—you can do all those things and never grow; you can grow extensively in personal Biblestudy.

However, this maturity level needs basic rules; understanding of how and when to apply the exceptions to the rules is lacking yet. Not that this is bad. It’s simply where this Christian is in his walk at this point. As long as he keeps growing, then the other aspects will soon follow.