I don’t want to sound like an old lady, but it surprises me how much some aspects of childhood have changed, especially when it comes to technology. My son was crying the other day about how a book of his got a “skip”. It took me a minute to figure out he meant that a page was ripped, but if damaged cds and dvds skip, I guess books can, too. He will also say after I take a cute picture of him “Can you put that on facebook?” Although, he’s not the most tech savvy five year-old. The other day he asked me if he could call his dad at work. I said he could and found it pretty funny when he looked at the buttons on the phone and said, “Okay, how do you spell ‘daddy’.” I told him you don’t spell anything, you have to dial the right numbers. To which he responded, “Oh. How old is daddy?” So we still have some teaching to do.
As much as childhood has changed with these technological advances, the important truths remain the same. After an overnight visit with my parents the kids kept asking me to sing what they were calling “the grandma song”. I finally figured out they were asking for “Jesus Loves Me”. Of course, this is a song I have sung to them many times, but Grandma sings it over and over until they fall peacefully asleep in her arms. She is passing down the simple words of our faith by singing over them. This is a faith that doesn’t change as technology does or with the changes in our society. The constant truth of the love of Jesus and his strength in the face of our weakness is something worth singing about. I pray my kids will pass this truth on to their children and that when I am the grandma I will never tire of singing it.