{"id":4834,"date":"2017-10-31T11:19:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T16:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=4834"},"modified":"2025-09-26T20:50:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T01:50:04","slug":"how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Lets just get this out of the way now\u2026<\/p>\n

What I am about to write will surely frustrate half of my readers, and probably confuse the other half…especially the parents.<\/p>\n

I want to open up the conversation about the place of horror and fear within children’s literature.<\/p>\n

Essentially, should we be reading to our young children tales of hauntings, creatures that lurk under the bathtub and things that go bump in the night?<\/p>\n

I give a resounding yes. Fear must have its place<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As a children’s author and illustrator with two young children myself, I was growing weary in reading Christian\/theological children stories that we\u2019re coated in morality and pastel hues. Another watered down children\u2019s Bible where Jesus is a white American, teaching children not to lie or you\u2019ll disappoint God. Scripture is full of reality and themes to mature us and our children. Personally, I desired to read children stories with real Biblical stakes attached to them. Themes of sacrifice, sin, loss and redemption. And If I can be honest, most of the critiques I get about my own children stories is that they\u2019re \u201ctoo scary\u201d. For what it’s worth, those are the parents critiques not the children’s.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nI read recently that shielding children from these themes can become unfair, by leaving them ill prepared for life\u2019s challenges. Much of our role as parents is governing our children in such a way that they can one day self govern, surely discipling them to overcome, fight the good fight and to not fear because the Lord is with us is part of their discipleship?<\/p>\n

Think of our history\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grimm\u2019s Fairy Tales<\/h2>\n

Grimm brothers didn\u2019t intend their collection of tales to be for children at all. Originally It was part of an attempt to preserve the true spirit of the German people. But a man by the name of Edgar Taylor, translated the stories in English in the early 1800\u2019s \u2026and guess what? Kids loved them. The rest is history\u2026 Today their fairy tales are the undercurrent of most of our childhood experiences. Creating such suspenseful classics as: Rapunzel (Tangled anybody?), Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel & Gretel and Cinderella. And as I rattle off these stories, did you notice something? All of the protagonist are children. Children as protagonist in suspense based films has been happening for centuries, and it\u2019s not going anywhere anytime soon. From Danny in The Shining, Elliot in E.T. to the crew in Stranger Things, the children aren\u2019t victims, they\u2019re victorious. This is vital for children to read, experience and accept.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.\u201d \u2015 Stephen King<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Early monster movies<\/h2>\n

Frankenstein<\/em>, Werewolf<\/em>, Phantom<\/em>, Hunchback<\/em> and The Mummy<\/em><\/strong>
\nWhat these films communicate is that the most fearful of any monster, is the human heart. The total depravity of man. The scariest thing about Frankenstein is not his monster, but mans reaction to whats different and unknown. Those who create such thrillers know this, look at what John Carpenter (The Thing<\/em>) has to say, \u201cThere are two different stories in horror: internal and external. In external horror films, the evil comes from the outside, the other tribe, this thing in the darkness that we don\u2019t understand. Internal is the human heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t hear me saying that our children are the real monsters, as much as we\u2019re in need of saving.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nStory teller Guillermo del Toro (Troll Hunters<\/em>, Hellboy<\/em>, Pan\u2019s Labyrinth<\/em>) helps ground my point:
\n\u201cIn fairy tales, monsters exist to be a manifestation of something that we need to understand, not only a problem we need to overcome, but also they need to represent, much like angels represent the beautiful, pure and eternal side. Monsters need to represent a more tangible, more mortal side of being human: aging, decay, darkness and so forth. I feel that monsters are here in our world to help us understand it. They are an essential part of a fable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thriller and suspense is truly the most universal language we have\u2026No matter what, we all deeply share fears of loss, rejection and the unknown. That’s all horror fiction is, it\u2019s tapping into mankind’s (including our children) unspoken fear of the unknown.<\/p>\n

This is why the dark is often scarier than the monster itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If that’s true, than I\u2019d charge us as parents to explore themes that deal with real stakes in our children\u2019s library which gives all parents an opportunity to engage with them on a much deeper level.<\/p>\n

In closing, I\u2019m not vying for our children to sit down and watch all seven of Nightmare on Elm streets with a bowl of ice cream (and can we be honest, more parents are freaked out by sugar than Freddy Krueger). Of course parents are to use discernment in sharing any genre with their children. Just because it\u2019s comedy, doesn\u2019t mean we should show our children. Just because it\u2019s fantasy, doesn\u2019t mean we are to have our children experience it. But, just because it addresses monsters and ghosts, also doesn\u2019t mean we should ostracize it\u2019s value and purpose.
\nIt\u2019s famously noted that scriptures number one mandate is \u201cdo not fear, for I am with you\u201d.
\nLets use every opportunity we get to be able to share this beautiful truth to our children each and every day.
\nBy C. S. Fritz, author of Good Night Tales: A Family Treasury of Read-Aloud Stories<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and Good Night Classics: A Fairy-Tale Journey through God’s Good News\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

C.S. (Casey) Fritz<\/strong> served on staff with Reality LA before planting Collective Church. In his free time, he draws monsters for fun and profit. (His work has been exhibited in several galleries.) He is the author of Good Night Tales,<\/em><\/a> Good Night Classics<\/em><\/a>, and the Cottonmouth series. Casey and his wife, Emily, have been married since 2005 and have a son and a daughter.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lets just get this out of the way now\u2026 What I am about to write will surely frustrate half of my readers, and probably confuse the other half…especially the parents. I want to open up the conversation about the place … <\/p>\n

Read moreHow Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lets just get this out of the way now\u2026 What I am about to write will surely frustrate half of my readers, and probably confuse the other half…especially the parents. I want to open up the conversation about the place ... Read moreHow Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-31T16:19:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-27T01:50:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/10\/Lamb-with-shepherd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\"},\"headline\":\"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-31T16:19:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-27T01:50:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\"},\"wordCount\":1010,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Grow\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\",\"name\":\"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith - The Disciplemaker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-31T16:19:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-27T01:50:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker\",\"description\":\"Bold. Loving. Sensible.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\",\"name\":\"NavPress\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"width\":4092,\"height\":818,\"caption\":\"NavPress\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith - The Disciplemaker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith - The Disciplemaker","og_description":"Lets just get this out of the way now\u2026 What I am about to write will surely frustrate half of my readers, and probably confuse the other half…especially the parents. I want to open up the conversation about the place ... Read moreHow Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith","og_url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/","og_site_name":"The Disciplemaker","article_published_time":"2017-10-31T16:19:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-27T01:50:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":950,"height":728,"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/10\/Lamb-with-shepherd.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Disciplemaker Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Disciplemaker Team","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/"},"author":{"name":"The Disciplemaker Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5"},"headline":"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith","datePublished":"2017-10-31T16:19:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-27T01:50:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/"},"wordCount":1010,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Grow"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/","name":"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith - The Disciplemaker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-31T16:19:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-27T01:50:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-spooking-your-children-can-increase-their-faith\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Spooking Your Children Can Increase Their Faith"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","name":"The Disciplemaker","description":"Bold. Loving. Sensible.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization","name":"NavPress","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","width":4092,"height":818,"caption":"NavPress"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5","name":"The Disciplemaker Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Disciplemaker Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4834"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13833,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834\/revisions\/13833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}