Kids can be pretty focused on fairness. "Elijah got more cake than me!" "Sarah isn't sharing the swing with me!" If you work or live with kids, these might be common refrains in your life!
There can be something good, something of God, in this concern for fairness.
There can be something good, something of God, in this concern for fairness when parents and leaders help kids to look out for others, rather than just themselves. This focus on fairness that kids tend to have can help them to notice and understand social inequalities that we adults have learned to explain away using stereotypes or phrases like, "Well if he had only worked as hard as I do..." or "If she hadn't done x...." or "Well they're all like x..."
If we can teach children early to recognize the image of God in every person, and to honour those people through fair treatment, we'll have done a lot to help them live into the 2nd greatest commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves. Furthermore, if we explicitly teach children that those whom society calls "last", God calls "first" (and model that radical but simple attitude in our daily lives), what beautiful God-honouring work could the next generation do?
Those whom society calls "last", God calls "first."
The Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue has put together this Sunday school lesson, drawing on the work of Dr. Cheryl Matias and Kim Radersma, to help kids of all ages to understand what God says about injustice and what systemic inequality looks like in our world today, especially for Indigenous kids in Canada. All you'll need are some marshmallows, toothpicks, and popsicle sticks...
[Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash]
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