Teaching Them Not To Judge

When I was deciding which recipe to choose for this past Saturday's post, I looked at the ham and noodle one and hesitated. This recipe is loaded with dairy, no one is going to want to try this recipe! (You have to understand that most of the people I associate with on a regular basis have at least one person in their family that is lactose intolerant.) However, on the hopes that there are people outside of my homeschooling group that are reading this blog, I posted the recipe anyhow; because it really is a good one (even though I can only eat a small amount of it because I am lactose intolerant). Then, lo and behold, a homeschooling mom from Hawaii actually said that she wanted to try this recipe. You mean there really are homeschoolers who eat dairy??? Our group tends to be very health food conscious: organic when possible, no dyes, no msg, no artificial anything...you get the picture. So I tend to forget that other people actually do eat all that "other stuff". I remember once we went to a gathering at the home of a devout catholic family and they actually served diet pop. My first reaction was one of horror - I thought these people were good Catholics? What are they doing serving diet pop????? Then, this past Christmas at our mom's cookie exchange, one mom brought cookies with red frosting on it. My first thought again was, "Alright, who on earth brought cookies with red 40 in it? Doesn't she know no one is going to take any of them????" (I am constantly amazed at the young age at which members of our group learn to spot red 40 in something!)

So what is my point? It is certainly NOT to judge anyone - not those who consume diet pop and red 40, nor those that don't. My point is that I find that when I spend a large amount of time with people who think the same way I do (call it sheltering myself), I have to make sure that I remeber that the whole world does not think the same way that I do and that that is okay. At moments like the ones above, I have to stop and laugh at myself and remember to adjust my thinking so as not to judge others. I then need to be careful to teach my children not to judge others, especially when it comes to people who do things differently than we do. It is so important to maintain a sense of balance, both in my own mind and in the mind of my children. While we are good friends with a lot of people who think the same way we do, I have to make sure that my children do not grow up judging people by what they eat, drink or wear. Teaching them to look at each person as a child of God, first before anything else, is one of the most important things, and probably one of the hardest, that I can teach my children.