Sophia!..... You're Blowing It!

I was sitting on my front porch last night watching a group of kids play in the park across the street and watching the quiet evening bustle of my neighborhood.  The children had been in the park for well over an hour.  It was about 8:30. The children were playing of the playground equipment and getting into the kind of mischief that children do in a park.  The oldest was about eight and there were a couple of others that were as young as 4.  A dark haired stout mother in her early 30's rounded the corner saw her children in the park and yelled, "Sophia!  What did I tell you.  Where are your brother and sister.  You are blowing it.  I cannot believe how badly you are blowing it!  You are about to be baptized!  You know better and you are blowing it!

So from what I can gather by this exchange is that the mother had no idea where her children ages 8-ish 6-ish and 4-ish were.  She had lost track of them for over an hour.  I know because that's how long I had been on my porch drinking a beer and sketching the homes across the street with the temple in the background and listening to the children's banter.  What struck me odd about the entire exchange was was the fact that the mother blamed the eight year-old because the mother had no idea where the children were.  The eight year old was expected to be accountable for her siblings well being.  However the idea that baptism was being used as a hammer I not only found odd but abusive.

I distinctly remember being eight and discussion around what it meant to be baptized.    I understood that without the membership in the church and having my sins washed away it meant that I could not get into the top level of heaven.  If Sophia understands the same thing what her mother did to herself esteem is unforgivable.  I personally don't think an 8 year old has the cognition to comprehend what that commitment means nor do they have the ability to discern truth from fantasy.  Sophia still likely believes in the magic of Santa Claus and is no more able to determine if Santa is true than she has the ability to determine if Joseph Smith was a prophet or if any of the tenets of the LDS church have even the remotest possibility  of being true.

Sophia is not old enough to be responsible for her siblings nor is she old enough to sort through the baggage given to her by her mother and determine the difference between upsetting her mother and myth that that behavior will lead her to hell.  Her mother does know and used this tool as a weapon to gain compliance.  It was shameful and one of the worse things I have seen exhibited by a parent.