10 Commandments

It is really nice when your kids talk about something in such a way that you know that they learned something that you tried to teach.

In our home, the major emphasis is on catechesis. Yes, we do math, handwritting, history, reading, art, spelling, geography, science, logic, and Spanish, but if one subject were talked about repeatedly throughout every single day, it would be the catechism. If the kids do something wrong, they recite the commandment they broke and its meaning, if it is one that we have learned. Each night they recite one commandment and its meaning as they learn new ones (we're on the 9th commandment this month). We talk about the commandments and how they relate to current events that we hear about. We talk about how God gives us the commandments to protect different gifts that He's given us.

(Now this isn't to say that we don't ever talk about forgiveness; we do, but this story relates to the commandments.)

Yesterday, I was reading The Bernstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree to Allyssa. It is a story about three bears who go into a spooky old tree which turns out to be a bear's home. We'd read the book a few times this week as it is a library book. This particular time, Allyssa stopped me about half way through the book and asked, "What commandment did they break?"

I was surprised at the question, but glad that she caught what was really going on in the story. For me the answer was a little tricky. Is breaking into someone's house a seventh or a fourth or both? I told her that it was the 7th commandment and the 4th commandment. Might as well cover all the bases. The bears broke the 4th by entering someone's home and the 7th because they did not improve or protect the owners possessions as they rambled through the home.

The Seventh Commandment
You shall not steal.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

The Fourth Commandment
Honor your father and your mother.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

Then we went on reading the story.

Today, I was reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears to David, Jr. He stopped me part way through it and asked, "Mommy, what commandment did Goldilocks break?"

Now that really surprised me because he's only 3 1/2 years old. I did not expect that from him at all.

We talked about how it was the 7th commandment (I just left it at 7th and talked about how she was eating their food and breaking their chairs, etc...).

It is nice to see things in light of the 10 Commandments. It helps organize our thoughts so that we can see what is really going on in the world (or book) around us. I hope that it helps the children learn to think before they act. I would love it if when they are older they thought, "Hmm...if I did this crazy thing would it be breaking a commandment?" Heck, I'd love it if I thought that. In the meantime, we'll keep on learning these commandments and exercising our brains so that we can see things in light of them.

So that you don't think that commandment are all about what we do wrong, recently, I heard a story about the way someone was upholding a commandment. It was such an uplifting story of care that someone was giving another.

We can see the 10 commandments in a way that protects the gifts God has given us as well as when they are broken. I think that that is important to know. More importantly, when my children break them, they repent and are forgiven. This knowing that you broke a commandment does no good if there is not repentance and forgiveness. Continually sinning without knowing of a Savior only leads to despair. Praise be to God for sending His Son to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, a gift applied to us in our baptism. And when we sin, we ask for forgiveness and God forgives our sins for Jesus sake.