Would your children be shocked to hear that there is more to life than having fun?

Many of us desperately want to make sure that our children enjoy “fun” childhoods. While this desire is not inherently bad, we can easily make the pursuit of “fun” far more important than it really should be.

Could it be that you and I are teaching our children that “fun” is the ultimate measure of something’s worth?

I was convicted of doing just that as I read this article by Pr. Wayne Muri.

We must have fun!

Nowhere in the ESV or RSV or ASV or KJV does the word “fun” appear. I was looking for it because it seems to be such an urgent issue for children and young people.

Their instinctive gauge on the value of an event is whether or not it was fun. If it was fun, it was good; if it wasn’t fun, I don’t want to do it anymore.

Church has to be fun; school; family projects; shopping…anything one has to do in life must be “fun.”

Where did they get that? From you. That’s right.

You’ve taught them that from their early years. When they came in from playing in the backyard with the neighbor kid, you ask as you wash their hands for dinner, “Did you have fun?” When they came home from a birthday party, you want to know if they had fun. When you pick them up from children’s church, preschool, and grandma’s house—your question is, “Did you have fun?”

The writer of Ecclesiastes suggests that the backdrop to fun is work. If you work hard and get things done, then you can relax and have fun. But if all you want is fun, it’s nothing but “vanity,” emptiness, a blowing of the wind.

Can we be a little more like Jesus with our kids, and instead of asking them if they had fun, ask them “Did you help anyone today?” “Did you serve?”“Were you kind?”

Perhaps their outlook on life will become a little more healthy, and a little more Christ-like.

How about you? Do you agree with this post? Have you made “fun” too much of a priority in your household? If so, how will you switch your focus to a more service/virtue oriented focus?

Guest Post written by Pr. Wayne Muri, Used with Permission.

More Posts from Path Through the Narrow Gate: