What’s Wrong With Barney, Mickey Mouse, Veggie Tales, Blues Clues, and Mother Goose?

What do I have against these characters? Fantasy is fun for preschoolers.

When a young child comes to church, however, everything in the room, and everything that is taught, should be REAL and should point him to God and the Biblical truths we want to convey.

It is extremely difficult (if not impossible) for preschoolers to distinguish between fact and fiction. Eventually children will realize that Mickey Mouse, and others, are not real. They will figure out that vegetables don’t really talk. (Besides the fact that Veggie Tales movies are not totally correct.) If these characters have been introduced at church, they may also wonder, “Is God real, or were those made-up stories, too, like the cartoons or videos I saw?”

As teachers, we need to be very careful not to confuse preschoolers, or to trivialize biblical message with cartoon characters.

Is is possible to be “too serious” on this issue?

A teacher was beginning to tell a Bible story to a group of 3rd graders (who had been to church all their lives) one asked, “Are these stories true?” hearing about this made a lasting impression on me that it is vitally important to convey the TRUTH of the Bible and Bible stories to the children we teach. Remember that children are literal thinkers and that plays into making sure that everything at church is REAL. They can’t “see” Jesus and God so why confuse them. Only to later hear them ask as 3rd graders “Are these stories true?”