By Dr. Sylvia Hart Frejd
“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” ~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9
My kids are all grown now, but I have a granddaughter on the way, and it makes me realize this is a very challenging time to be raising children. As a parent, in a digital world today you are writing the rules for a guidebook that’s never been written. How much screen time is too much? How much should kids use and share on social media? The only guidebook you have is your own knowledge of the digital world, and since it’s always changing you’ll always be adapting your rules.
Scripture tells us that we are to have face-to-face conversations with our children, talking about God on the road, and around the house. In order to have these conversations we all have to look up from our screens and turn our faces to each other. A parent’s job is to point their children again and again to the greatest commandment: to love God with all we are.