The War of the Ribs

Do you believe that children are born inherently good? Do you believe that it’s society’s fault for corrupting our little angels? That they come out these cute little saints and then their parents get ahold of them and all hell breaks loose, literally? Well, you’re stupid. Or you’ve never really been near children. I don’t believe that anyone who has worked with young children and has even the tiniest bit of brains in their heads can deny that truth of an inherent sin nature. After working with kids for over 17 years, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Nobody ever has to teach a child how to lie or how to be selfish or how to manipulate their parents. Nope, kids know these tricks right from the get go and boy are they good at them!

For whatever reason, I think this is the funniest thing. I have two nieces and an adopted niece, all under 13 months old. I get the biggest kick out of watching their natural sin nature kick in even at their young ages. At 13 months old, my little niece is starting to learn the word “no” (always one of their first words). However, this is not where it starts. Oh no! At 8 months old, babies are fully capable of a full out fit if they don’t get their way. Even at 3 months or earlier they start developing this distinct cry in which you can totally hear, “That’s not fair! I’m not getting my way! I refuse to be happy simply because I’m not getting my way!” I have seen little babies that are just learning to crawl find out the evil thrill of the response you get from biting your little friend. Once they find any mobility (walking, crawling, even rolling over) we all know exactly where the first place they go to is. The forbidden territory is always the highlight. What’s a little toddler boy’s first response to a bug? Stomp! Utter domination and destruction! I can’t help but chuckle when I see this natural reaction from children.

Why in the world do I find it funny? I mean, sin is sin and sin is a very nasty thing. Well, perhaps it’s because they’re sinning with such innocence. They’re not hiding behind pretenses or feeling guilty for their behavior. That is something they also learn how to do pretty fast, but I love how little children originally just let that sinful attitude out without trying to pretty it up. It’s so honest. I love seeing that same ugliness that I like to hide when I sin just coming out. It reminds me of how ugly sin really is. It reminds me about how like a selfish, fit throwing child I really am. That sinning child is inside all of us, but we make it a lot uglier by trying to pretend it doesn’t exist. Trying to blame our sins on others. Babies don’t care who is keeping them from eating fast enough, they just know that they aren’t being satisfied quickly enough for their tastes. Babies don’t hide behind pretenses and throw out cutting remarks to mom about her lack of skill in meeting their needs. Nope, they just let that ugly squeal out that we adults like to turn into telling remarks, vengeful behavior and whatever other evil thing we can think of all the while pretending to be so righteous. Well, I’m not sure that I explained that as best I could or that that paragraph is completely theologically accurate, but you get the idea.

Now, I know what you other moms are thinking. It’s just not that funny when it’s your terrible two throwing a fit in Walmart over candy. Well, my turn has already come. My baby still has approximately 8 more weeks to cook and he’s already showing that hilarious little sin nature that makes him human. He’s got this one spot that he likes to put his foot in. It’s right on one of my organs right under my rib. He will push on that organ until it’s on fire and feeling like it’s going to burst. He’ll do this for hours. When he gets tired of that, he moves his foot a little farther up and pushes either on my diaphragm or right on my lungs, I’m not sure which. It causes me to have what feels like half capacity in that lung and gives mommy a panic attack when she can’t breathe. It even makes me quite light headed. Now, I completely understand that he is out of room and has no idea what he’s doing. That’s why mommy spends her day (yes, literally most of my day) gently pushing his foot into a new location. How does he respond to this? Well, you’d think that when he puts it immediately back that he’s just innocently not getting it. Maybe partially true. But the real truth comes out around the third time when he gets tired of being moved. That’s when he declares war. We literally have a strength war between my hand and his foot as he pushes back refusing to be moved yet again. He is ridiculously strong for such a little thing and he is very determined to win!

What is really going on? I call it “The War of the Ribs”, but really it’s a war of the wills. We are all born (really, conceived) with a God-given free will. We love to use it. It’s not that he doesn’t have another place to go. It’s not that he’s completely oblivious to my request. Not that I’m saying he’s a criminal mastermind fully capable of plotting the destruction of the world at this stage in life, but he does know a few things. He knows that he is being moved and he knows that he can move. He also knows that he doesn’t like it and sure as heck doesn’t want to. Sure enough, after enough wrestling he will eventually move to a new location. The amount of persuasion I have to give him though does not bode well for dealing with his terrible twos. 

Maybe you think I’m crazy or imagining things. Well, due to the extreme lack of space for my little 8 month old son we do this battle throughout the day. It really takes him no time at all to fall asleep for his typical 30 minutes, wake up forgetful of last play time, and pretty quickly get himself back into his favorite position. In fact, “The War of the Ribs” is going on as we speak. Somehow I’m still able to laugh as he yet again gets frustrated and gives me several huge, quick kicks in obvious anger (mind you my galbladder, appendix, or small intestine, whatever is there, is definitely not laughing). Because I love him and because I’m his mother, I can laugh even though his actions are continually bringing me pain. I can laugh at his innocence and relate to his struggle to act out his free will. It’s a lovely reminder to me of this wonderful God I have who maybe cannot completely laugh at the ugliness of sin in His perfection, but still looks fondly down at me when I am kicking my feet at Him, completely understanding the urge to act out that free will He gave me and yet He again so gently redirects me. Hopefully I continually live up to His example with my strong willed little boy.