Is it bad to say this to a child?

With all due respect, let me just state that I find that wrong in more than one level. Of course, if your family is Christian, you would not want to turn Jesus into some kind of bogeyman. What should be inculcated in the minds of the children is that Jesus loves them and is their friend. Besides, it's just not true. I don't think Jesus will get mad at him for making the balloon land on the food, lol. Second, four-yr-old children can be counted on to do these things. It's up to the older ones to set things up so danger, destruction, or just plain mess can be avoided. Third, I wouldn't want to strike this kind of fear in any child's heart, be it Jesus, demons, babysnatchers, etc. It's just an unhealthy element to be present during the formative years or otherwise. Fourth, it's really more of a question. I was wondering why you'd refer to Jesus as a father (isn't He the Son?). I'm really just curious =P Anyway, my suggestion is be firm and consistent about rules you may have. If there's a balloon, chances are a child would want to play with it. Could playing with it possibly cause anything untoward (like messing up the dining table)? If it could, I would simply put away the balloon, saying that he could play with it later - outside or when the table has been cleared. Explain what playing with it could potentially do. If he really wants to play with it, perhaps you could compromise. Devise a way to not make it go near the food (like use a string or something) or take him outside so he can play with it without wreaking havoc. HTH!

thats just wrong an yes you will give him a fear of Jesus.

Hi calai, It is a usual practice with most of the parents. I do say something like, ‘if you do this then God will be angry on you/God won’t like your act’ etc. If the parents do believe in GOD then the kids will follow them and we are just conveying that ‘GOD is great’ and you should obey the GOD. Sometime I may tell his father won’t like it and may angry on your but in some cases I don’t think it is effective, especially if he plays (when his stomach is full then he may spread the same everywhere just for fun, I am giving small quantity if he prefer to eat by himself) with his food then I may tell him about GOD. He (my son, 2+ years old) is too small to understand the importance of food and if we spoil what happened etc so I think it is an easy way to make him understand we should preserve food/we can’t play with food.

Please do not say this! He shouldn't fear Jesus, he should be able to think of him as a dear friend and brother who watches over him and helps him! Rather say, keep the balloon away from the table because it will make the food taste terrible, like rubber! Or give him a short lesson about germs that can make him sick. Better still, if your house is big enough, don't allow the balloon where the food is. Or take him outside with it. I never told my children that God or Jesus would be angry with them but I did tell them that They would be disappointed in them and very sad. They love and repect Them now as adults and know they can go to Them with their troubles as well as their praise.

I don't believe in terrifying children in the name of god. Poor children they are too young to understand all that. Instead you can tell the the real cause and also that balloon is not a edible stuff so should be kept away from the dining area. I think younger children respond bettter when you tell them the truth. That way they also learn. Yes it could be also such that eventually the child may start disliking Jesus when we use him to scare the child. Children should be taught to believe in god right from the time they are kids so Jesus should be put foward to the child in a positive manner like telling him that he will reward you if you behave yourself. Happy mylotting.

wow that is not your guilty, this must be joke, but when your child grow up you must give the right religion to your child you must give the good experience of religion =)

I think it is not bad to say that to a child.That is one way of introducing Jesus to the child. But we should explain to the child who is Jesus in our lives and the good news if the child will learn to follow His commandments.Maybe we can add stories about how Jesus is loving to all kids and will be pleased if the child does the things that Jesus wants and maybe that would not make the child get scared of Him. It's really an effort to teach our kids about Jesus but it's worth it...

It is a difficult one. It is hard to know how the child interpreted this due to the fact that he is so young but I would not say anything along those lines if I were you. My daughter is seven and she asked me one day, out of the blue, whether God was going to punish her because she doesn’t like to eat her vegetables. I assured her that God would not do that because I am concerned that she will view God as judgemental and negative. Your little brother may not have been affected at all by your comments, but I would not make connotations in regards to anything negative to do with God or Jesus.

Hi Calai. Yes, this is very apt to make a young child scared of Jesus. I know it did ME, and for years, it kept me from getting close to Jesus the way I am now. No, I never told any child these things, but pointed out the consequence of the behavior...what would happen if the balloon spilled the contents of all the glasses on a table for instance. Or I'd add, if you keep doing that when I said stop, you will have to quit playing for 1/2 an hour and just sit quietly in your room. Karen

There are a lot of reasons why you shouldn´t say that. But the most important is that you are using Jesus to tell him things you think are right. You are putting words and feelings that are yours in Jesus mouth. That´s arrogance even if you haven´t thought of it. By the way, I feel the same about saying your daddy will be angry. Why don´t you say that it bothers you and explain to him why? It is true that small children sometimes are too active. But they can understand reasons even if they will do it again many times. That´s how each of us learned. Let him grow without guilt, please. I´m sorry I wrote this, but I was raised with those words said by my grandmom. I promised I wouln´t burden my children with that and I didn´t. I did tell them what I was VERY mad at them because they has done this or that. And then we talked after I yelled a little. Take care!

Ummm...maybe it is just a figure of speech but if you are Christian perhaps it would be best to portray Jesus in a more positive light.

Tell him the straight answer for his wrong doings. Its not always correct that Jesus will get angry with him if he does something wrong. Children sometimes should not be treated as children and one best option is to explaining to him the consequences of his action.

Please don't say that again.I think it's not good for a child.It will make him scare of Jesus.Why not tell him the real reason that you didn't want him to do that ?Although it costs more words.Facing a child,we should pay more patience.

yeah,sometimes you need to control your motion about the word,you know ,the kids is very sensitivity sbout every word you speaking every move you do,they learn you guys,so be a good model.

I would only say that God would save us and He is guiding us all the time and so the child ought to clasp his hands in prayer[when he was very small]; You can just tell the little one ina nice way because he ought not to do this and that would would get yukky , and you all will have to go to the doctor and end up taking painful injections.THis may also prevent him .

You do instill fear in your child by doing this. He may only know that some unknown person is going to be angry at him and this can make him very fearful. Why not just punish him in the Now that way whatever it is, it's over and done with and does not leave him worrying about some unknown future event.

You could just tell him you do not want the balloon on the food it will make it taste bad. When he does somethng else wrong just tell him to stop or he will have to go to his room and sit in timeout. Do not say that Jesus will get angry as a way to stop him from doing something wrong. It could make him afraid of Jesus and you do not want to do that.

I agree with dragon54 just that it's not only about Jesus. It's a little bit deeper and it's about the process of his Ego formation. It can as well be Jesus, God, the Scarecrow, the Babykillers or any other imaginary entity. It's equally the same thing as long as the kid didn't meet that entity in person. What you are actually doing is building of the fear pattern in the kid young mind. He has to learn what fear is but a less harmful way is to experiment it directly. For example, when he will put a nail in the power supply holes and he will get the electric shock, he will know exactly what he is afraid of and consequently learn fear in a very clear situation. He could feel it, it was for real and he will know to avoid the plug next time. At this age, what a kid sees is what he gets... The golden rule! Abstract things or entities he never met will be very difficult to understand, and kids are explaining them according to their imagination. Building and overbuilding fantastic scenarios. Nevertheless, learning fear through an imaginary scarecrow that appears in his life in a repeated way is the gateway for future consuming nightmares and even phobias. Because his mind will get used to fear imaginary situations or persons and not real situations. The future problems can happen or not, depending on the 'material' of your kid and the rest of the programing he will receive later, but usually programing is much easier then reprograming. I agree with the rubber taste or yucky germs idea. The kid can experiment directly the situation in a much more effective way.