A while back our older daughter was back home on vacation from Divinity School. As it was always interesting to hear what she was learning, the dinner conversation naturally drifted toward her theology class and her new insights about God. Soon she, her dad, and I were in healthy and simulating debate about prevenient grace, or something like that. I did notice, however, that while we were intently engaged, our much younger daughter tried to get in a couple of words, only to be cut off or pretty much ignored. After about 30 minutes, the younger one just blurted out, "Why can't we just talk about soccer, like all my friends do at their dinner tables."
Talking (a lot) about God surely isn't strange in a pastor's home and probably neither is soccer. But I did learn that sometimes we over do it. But while some of us love to talk about God, it wears thin on others. Sometimes kids yearn just to be what they perceive as normal.
What is normal for you? What do you talk about a your dinner table? Do you even get a chance to sit down and talk as a family at all? It was a actually a rare occasion for us, making the topics all the more important. How do your kids feel?
Kathy is an editor, mother, and spouse
There is definitely a lot of God-talk in our house--theology, ethics, religion and politics, religion and culture. Our daughter is still mastering "ma-ma" and "da-da" at the moment, so I don't know hoe she feels about it :0) but we also do a lot of talking about whatever she's up to, so while it's toddling right now, I'm sure it will be soccer in the future.
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