Chapter 1 – Your Baby Needs A Family
Page 23; 2nd full paragraph
"Marisa’s parents have adopted the child-centred
approach. As a result, Marisa will never have to wait for anything. If she
wants something, it is given to her on demand. Baby-sitters? They make Marisa uneasy. So an evening
out alone together simply is not an option. Either her parents will take her
everywhere they go, or they will miss a function due to Marisa’s inability to
take part. As for eating, if Marisa suddenly rejects her bananas, she’ll be
offered a variety of options until her particular preference is revealed. Then
mom will stock the shelves full of Marisa’s delight, only to learn days later
that the child’s pleasure is back to bananas. Welcome to the circus."
So...Ezzo calls this a circus:
- responding to your child
- being sensitive to your child's sense of stranger anxiety
- choosing to not put your child into a state of fear or anxiety in order to please/entertain yourself and your spouse
- not attending events which require family separation
- being sensitive to a child's natural tastes in food preferences
Responding to your child...is proven to be absolutely necessary for healthy development. It is what teaches the child cause and effect. It is what allows the child to develop a sense of right and wrong. Ezzo shows here that he is ignorant of healthy child development.
Proverbs 21:13
He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be answered.
Being sensitive to your child's sense of stranger anxiety...is simply, "doing unto others," and "always consider others as more important than yourself." It is what being Christian is all about. Stranger anxiety is a natural part of a child's healthy development...development created by God. Ezzo shows here that he is completely ignorant of normal brain development.
Isaiah 41:10
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Ezzo believes that mom and dad should have fun and not, "always consider others are more important than yourselves." He believes the parents should consider themselves more important than the child and to put the child first would be, "Child-centric" and bad. Ezzo believes that it doesn't matter if the child experiences fear or anxiety (discomfort) when the parents are absent because what matters is that mom and dad have fun together WITHOUT the child.
Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
Ezzo is also ignorant of the development of taste and food preferences, and the importance of following the child's lead.
Even Jesus had sort of an odd diet...
Isaiah 7:15
He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.
A circus is where you go to see humans do "impossibly amazing things." A circus is where you go to see amazing and even mind boggling displays of strength, endurance, skill, and wonder.
Could it be that perhaps, Ezzo is right? Could it be that...for parents to give up their own lives...to give up themselves and follow Christ's example...for parents to put their child's needs and life before their own...and respond to their child in every way at any time of the day or not no matter the inconvenience...is a spiritual circus (aka place of amazingness and wonder?)?
Could it be that the home that Ezzo scorns is actually a home where people would "want to come to see from miles around"...and could enter and see "amazing and mind boggling displays of spiritual strength, endurance, skill, and wonder"? A home where the parents can work together with such precision as to do "death-defying acts" with ease...and even "tame lions"? Could be...
