As artificial intelligence (AI) rises in society, we are becoming more dependent on technology not only for mundane tasks, but to do our thinking as well. We tend to think that doing difficult tasks is a burden. We value our free time for entertainment and recreation over work and creation. We are already losing a battle with too much technology. What will the future be like? Will we become so dependent on AI that we will lose our ability to communicate?
Parents can’t be bothered with crying infants. We stick a pacifier in their mouths instead of cuddling, comforting and talking to them. Fussy toddlers get another kind of pacifier in the form of a tablet or a phone with a game that changes pictures every few seconds. Still no cuddling, comfort or communication. Bored teens get smartphones and seclusion. Even less cuddling, comfort or communication, and worse, they don’t want it. Now parents are free to pursue free time on their own pacifiers; no thought of what is happening to their children’s bodies and brains, much less their own.
In the past, people were taught to do hard things. Adam was commanded to work to earn his way in life by the sweat of his brow. This life was not intended to be easy. God didn’t intend for us to live life with a pacifier. He wanted us to learn to create and to labor all the days of our lives. He wanted us to use our brains to get answers to our questions by asking, studying and searching, not asking an AI that would give an instant-gratification answer from the accumulated knowledge of a corrupt world.
The scriptures are full of examples of people who proved they could do hard things. Think of Adam and Eve forging a pattern for the family of man out of the sorrow and hardship of the lone and dreary world after they had been pampered in the Garden of Eden.
Noah hammered out the ark without our modern tools. He gathered the animals two by two while he preached to the people. It was hard for him to leave those he loved stranded in the rainstorm because they would not repent. The days on the ark were not a picnic in the park. I’ll bet it was a real pain.
God’s chosen Joseph was sold into Egypt and ran away from Potiphar’s wife … right into prison. He had every reason to be bitter and angry at the Lord for his trials, but he had a firm conviction that he would serve the Lord no matter how hard it was. Joseph could do hard things. It probably wasn’t easy to store seven years of grain. There were probably seemingly insurmountable challenges. Joseph, as Pharaoh’s right-hand man, could have lived a life of ease, but he did not shrink from hard things. Men of character choose to climb high mountains and swim in deep water. They are not interested in pacifiers.
Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could have chosen the life of ease. They could have followed the crowd, but they were accustomed to doing hard things. Daniel faced the lions in a den because he chose to pray instead of following the crowd. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced the fiery furnace. The young men answered the King. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18 KJV) They not only told the king they knew their God could save them, but they said if He should chose not to save them, they would still not forsake Him. What courage and loyalty. These young men were taught self-worth by doing hard things.
Moses was another example of someone who chose to do hard things. He was raised with a golden spoon in Pharaoh’s court. He had servants and people who would do his bidding, but he abandoned all of it to save his people. Where did Moses learn to do hard things? Remember, his birth mother became his nurse. She didn’t give him a pacifier; she gave him a glimpse of a mission.
Mothers don’t have much time to teach their children before the world takes them away. They must make every minute a golden opportunity to help their children realize they can accomplish much more than they think they can. They must teach them the way they should go while they are young, and when they are old, they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
Today, many children are coddled by the television and the tablet. Those impressionable years of a mother’s touch and a mother’s words are lost as she spends her time in personal pursuits trying to be everything to everyone. Children need their parents to teach them the truths of eternity early. Infants can hear the stories of Jesus. Infants can listen to a mother’s lullaby no matter how well, or how poorly, she thinks she sings. A 1-year-old can understand what it means to share and be charitable. A 2-year-old can understand that they can have their own way if they are willing to obey and that if they throw a temper tantrum, they will not get what they want no matter how hard they kick or scream.
A 3-year-old can feel the triumph of helping do the dishes and putting away toys. They can understand that if you choose the right path, you will be happy; if you choose the wrong path, it doesn’t work out very well. Four- and 5-year-old children can learn to take responsibility for their own actions. By the time they are 6 and 7 years old, they can be taught to do hard things. They don’t need to be forced, just taken along. Take them on hikes and let them sleep out under the stars and have a talk about God and the universe.
Parents can expect older children to help care for younger children. They can help wash the car, run the vacuum and wash the dishes without a dishwasher. They can learn to quilt, sew and do leatherwork. They can learn to survive in the wilderness. They can help plan and conduct family meetings. Parents and children are limited only by their beliefs. We must trust children to do hard things and give them responsibilities to prove themselves.
In pioneer times, Warren Reed Tenney’s son and his friend took a team and a wagon full of freight about 80 miles from St. Johns to Fort Apache, Arizona. They had to stand on boxes to harness the animals. They were responsible for making sure they didn’t get lost, caring for the goods they carried and the money on their return trip. They fixed their own meals and were able to return safely. You would think the boys were teenagers with some skill. No, they were 8 years old. They must have been taught to harness horses and to drive a wagon long before they turned 8. Their dads trusted they could do the task long before they sent them on their journey. Warren Reed Tenney was a devout Christian who left his son and his friend in the hands of God. It is for certain these boys didn’t have GPS or AI to lead them along. They trusted a loving Heavenly Father.
We must be wise in what we let our children do alone today. There are more dangers in our society that were not in the woods of early Arizona. We must go with them and teach them before we let them experiment on their own. But we must realize, children are much more capable than we give them credit. If we teach our children they can do difficult things, their confidence and self-esteem will grow. We must allow them to experiment and try new tasks, even if they scratch their knees and elbows trying. Compliment them on a job well done, even if it is not perfect, but we must also let them know that a job done with little effort is not acceptable. We must expect the best from ourselves, and by default, our children will get the picture.
