Nathan Reimer has been a long-time reader of my various blogs and has a great fatherhood/parenting blog of his own called Dads Can Cook Too! In a story he shared last weekend, he offered a great example of how to take advantage of a teachable moment with his son:

I’m at work and receive an excited call from my son. He quickly, out of breath, announces that he just killed a snake in our yard! This is a big deal, since he’s only 9 and typically doesn’t take action like that. He also told me how his sister had cried because of what he did.

So I was torn between being proud of my son for his bravery and proud of my daughter for her compassion. When I asked him why he killed it, he said didn’t really know, but probably to protect mom (who’s deathly afraid of snakes). I remember growing up and along with my brother killing our fair share of snakes, lizards, birds, frogs, etc… I understood why he did it even if he couldn’t articulate it, boys will be boys.

We seized the opportunity for a life-lesson. We explained the benefits of snakes in a garden as nature’s pest control. We also tried to explain why a lot of people (like mom) have an innate in fear of snakes called Ophidiophobia, and even snakes mentioned in the Bible; in the garden of Eden and Moses using as symbol of healing. He later confessed he was a little sad for what he did.

I love the juxtaposition of bravery and compassion with those kids. I love how a little boy was trying to protect his mom. And I especially love how Nathan was able to use the whole story to talk to his kids about violence and remorse, the life cycle, irrational fears, and the complexity of biblical snake imagery. So educational!

That’s how you do good parenting. Well done.

How about you? Care to share any stories of teachable moments with your kids?