How to teach your kids to navigate the COVID aftermath.

Two years ago I wrote an article about how to support your kids during the pandemic. I wrote another one about how to use the pandemic to make better kids on the other end. Honestly, they were easy articles to write. Many of the ideas and concepts were very clear and common sense in my mind.

But today, I sit here to write something much more difficult, more sensitive, more complex and, although it still may seem like common sense to some, has become a real impossible topic to touch: How to teach your kids to navigate the polarizing crazy climate were currently live in.

Well, I got good news and bad news.

Bad news – it’s just gonna keep getting worse.

Good news – we have the answers.

..

Although the world keeps rolling, culture keeps changing, words keep getting new definitions and the goalposts keep moving we have the amazing gift of a strong, firm and unchanging foundation. The hard part is standing on it.

But that’s the thing, isn’t it? We gotta stand on it. We must be ok with being offensive and unpopular and we have to teach our kids how to stand on it too.

 So, here are 4 “easy” steps to teach your kids to navigate the aftermath of COVID.

1. Love

I fear the definition of this word has changed a bit over these past few months. We use to teach our kids to love everyone no matter what race, gender, beliefs, location, sexual orientation, status etc. Now, we live in a time where it’s perfectly acceptable to call names, place blame and not associated with people with whom we do not agree.

 It’s a big switch. It’s a scary switch. But here we are.

 So, what do we do? We continue to teach our kids the biblical definition of love, which very plainly means we give it to everyone. Hard stop.

Hold the love line. Hold it hard.

Then model that unconditional, sacrificial, radical Jesus love wherever you go.

2. Not every mountain is worth dying on

This is a big one and is often a lesson learned the hard way but o so important. Our current climate is filled with individuals who believe, without a doubt, that their view is right, that their preference is right, that their information is right and anything counter to that is not only wrong but hateful.

 With that being said, there are going to be a lot of mountains to climb, a lot of things that feel wrong or icky or not Jesus-like whatsoever. But here is where Christians should thrive and be very choosy in their mountains. There’s a nice churchy word used for this – discernment.

So how do we teach our kids discernment? How to we ourselves discern the mountains? Well, at the risk of oversimplifying things let’s just turn to the Bible to see what our mountains should be;

• Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world (James 1:27),

• Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously. (Micha 6:8)

• Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. (Matthew 16:19)
  OR

• Care for the unfortunate

• Seek Godly justice, mercy, love

• Tell them about Jesus

  WHICH MEANS

• Stop hyper-focusing on yourself and what you want

• Stop obsessing over worldly justice and focus on Godly justice and mercy

• Stop misrepresenting Jesus and the Kingdom you represent.

  OR (you ready to get real specific?)

• Stop pushing your covid view and claiming only “one way”

• Humbly submit to authority knowing that this life doesn’t really matter (and no matter what mandates are in place they do not stop God’s work)

• Stop claiming a COVID side or a view as the right way, the church way or the Jesus way

  WHICH FOR OUR KIDS MEANS

• They don’t need to know any views about COVID

• They can follow the “rules” while being respectful to others who “don’t”

• They are just as much representatives of Jesus as we are.

 So, teach them that not every mountain is worth dying on and instead of hyper-focusing on COVID, mandates, restrictions and laws we should be focusing on Jesus and who he would focus on (homeless, broken, trafficked, communities with no water, orphans, people who do not know Him….just imagine if we were AS passionate…)

3. Others over ourselves

 This one is pretty self-explanatory and may feel a little repetitive but let me just remind you (and then you can remind your kids) that you are not as important as you think. It’s not all about you (and your personal COVID view). In fact, Paul tells us in Philippians that we are to consider others better than ourselves. What does that mean? I am not better than someone who chooses not to vaccinate. You are not better than someone who chooses to wear a mask. We see souls, not choices.

Did that hurt? Good. Let the Holy Spirit convict you hard on that one and then refer back to point 1.

 4. Focus fully on the gospel

 I think somewhere in some dark corner Satan is super thrilled - not because we are divided over vaccines and restrictions and Covid in general but because we, as Christians, have become so hyper-focused on Covid and sharing our personal opinions that we have completely negated our actually and only mission in life: to be joyful and loving, humble and sacrificial image-bearers of Christ.

Sure, Covid had changed a lot. Covid took some precious moments and memories away. Sure, we have every right to be mad or sad. But as I scroll through social media and see post after post on both sides of the equation from fellow Christians and leaders I find myself simply thinking this; Imagine if we shared the good news of Jesus Christ and the joy he brings as much as we shared our personal beliefs, opinions and woes about Covid. Imagine, if we stopped twisting scripture to try and fit our narrative and started just following the basic and clear commandment to love God and love others

Jesus is the answer to all our problems. I really mean that. A hard and constant focus on the Gospel has and always will unify. Teach those lessons to your kids. Teach them to not see mask or vaccine or sickness or mandates or anything else but a fearfully and wonderfully made soul that is fully loved by Jesus.

We need to refocus ourselves on the gospel and be reintroduced to the fact that heaven is my home, I am just here recruiting.

 ……

Friends let’s take a hard look at our participation in the madness and an even harder look at what we are directly or indirectly teaching our kids about love, justice and mercy. We need to stop pushing the responsibilities off to others, we need to stop blaming for things out of everyone’s control, we need to stop expecting people to do what we would do or shame them for circumstances, we need to stop thinking that a certain “thing” or “rule” or “person” or “circumstance” will be our saviour. Jesus got that handled.

We need to take back control of our thoughts and feelings and then hand them over to a God who is patiently waiting for us to wake up, see the damage and start passionately doing the work that actually matters.

First your kids. Then the world.