I recently saw an Instagram reel where there was a missing child photo, and the child in the photo was lying down holding a phone. The story behind the reel is that technology has stolen our children’s childhood. Shortly after I saw a Barbie commercial and I noticed that at the end of the commercial the saying was, You can BE whatever YOU want to BE. You used to hear the saying, You can DO whatever you want or whatever you put your mind to, etc.
It brought me to ponder how our society is changing the meaning of our words–and we are slowly being groomed to accept these phrases and terms. In most instances, without really noticing it. Telling my child they can BE whatever they can BE is a FALSE statement. They cannot be a horse, no matter how hard they try. They cannot flap their arms and fly, no matter how much they practice. So many stories, tik-toks, reels, Pinterest, and so much more are putting these ideas out there: and we don’t know what is landing with our kids.
Are we being vigilant as parents for our kids to understand truth in a world that is redefining what truth is? There is objective truth, and subjective truth. How are we teaching our kids to understand the difference between the two?
Subjective Truth: Chocolate chip cookies are the BEST cookie you can ever have. One person may believe that, but that is not an objective truth. It is not true for ALL people. It could be Toyota is the best made brand vehicle out of all vehicles ever created. Subjective. Someone else may believe it’s Ford.
Objective Truth: A recipe to make chocolate chip cookies. If you leave out one ingredient, such as chocolate chips, then you didn’t really make chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is true and correct, and you should follow it.
We can teach our kids the difference between subjective and objective by giving them a correct recipe to follow, and a wrong one, to see what happens.
You can have a treasure map with correct or incorrect instructions, and see where it leads them. Following truth can lead you to the treasure, whereas following an opinion can get you further away from the truth and treasure.
I highly recommend a program called Foundation Worldview. Elizabeth Urbanowicz teaches your children how to understand truth through these kinds of activities and in ways they can grasp these very important foundational truths for our lives.
My kids and I while in the car together will create statements where we have to say if it is objective truth or subjective truth. Examples: Marvel is better than DC Superheroes. Mohawk is the best hairstyle. God is Real. Gravity is real. The list can go on and on.
I hope this encourages you to think of fun ways you can express the truth to your kids, and get them to understand the difference.
Resource: Foundation Worldview
Check out our conversation on this topic on our podcast: Thriving Together WS Podcast
