As Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100, Jenny Sanders looks at how the characters of Hundred Acre Wood – from anxious Piglet to reckless Tigger and gloomy Eeyore – reflect the wonderfully imperfect mix of personalities found in our families and how God’s love holds us all together.
Winnnie-the-Pooh is now, officially, a centenarian. Whether you celebrated his birthday with a honey sandwich, a new hum, a game of Pooh Sticks – or even if it passed you by completely – the fact remains that he’s now not only a Bear of Very Little Brain, but a Bear of a Significant Number of Years.
Winnie-the-Pooh would just be a rather forlorn bear, were it not for his diverse group of friends. Rupert had his ”chums”, Paddington had the Brown family, but Pooh’s friends are more representative of the people we meet in real life.
Given what my own household looks like, I know you can have your own cast of the Hundred Acre Wood characters living under your roof. As parents and carers, we are responsible for nurturing the positive characteristics in our children and grandchildren, encouraging them to appreciate how these mesh into the culture of family, while giving space and guidance for their uniquely created strengths to flourish and mature. Recognising who is struggling and who is soaring allows us to strategise and mentor well.
We are responsible for nurturing the positive characteristics in our children and grandchildren, encouraging them to appreciate how these mesh into the culture of family.
Christopher Robin always intervenes when his family of toys get muddled, realise they’re lost or need someone to MC a birthday party. He appreciates each one without judgement. No one is perfect, but all of them are loveable. It’s their willingness to jog along together that brings magic to AA Milne’s stories.
Encouraging our Eeyores
In Winnie-the-Pooh’s world, Eeyore – the perpetually miserable donkey who lives in his “gloomy place” – is described as ”Rather Boggy and Sad”. Regardless of the occasion, Eeyore remains unmoved in spirit and demeanour. Even his birthday – almost forgotten by everybody – holds its own sense of dreariness. Pooh eats the pot of birthday honey; the balloon Piglet eagerly brings bursts when he trips. Eeyore is left finding melancholic satisfaction in putting the pieces of shrivelled rubber in and out of the pot.
Does your family have an Eeyore? Someone who tends to look on the dark side of life. They may not be a pessimist as such, but children and parents alike can fall more naturally into the worst-case-scenario school of thought, depending on their wiring. The introverts are wonderful, but can be harder to coax into the mainstream of family life. Their deliberative, risk averse, reluctant-to-trust tendencies require consistent affirmation, patient listening skills and clear signposts towards alternative outcomes.
Layer by layer, truth by truth, parents can help them see themselves as God sees them.
The anxious, Piglet-like individuals who jump at their own shadow and wrestle with appropriating the truths of Jesus ask a lot of questions and require affirmation, but struggle to shake off the worries that dog them like a Heffalump. Lovable, loyal and eager to please, these are the children who crave reassurance. Layer by layer, truth by truth, parents can help them see themselves as God sees them. We can all learn to bring our cares and concerns to our Heavenly Father and leave them with Him, rather than pick them up again on our way out. The daily repetition of choosing to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, rather than our circumstances, will benefit all the Piglets and guide them to rest in God’s promises and truths.
Perhaps you’ve got a few like Rabbit in your sphere. He’s rather bossy, wants everyone to stick to the rules, and tends to be a control freak while obsessing about every detail. Nevertheless, Rabbit is the only one in the wood who can read and write – a truly “clever bunny”. The academically-inclined children can either cave under peer group taunting or sail along unaware and/or unshaken by the fact that they’re regarded as a “boffin” by some. Although the natural rule-keepers can slip into legalism, their default of sticking to the rules may yet help them navigate the rockier waters of adolescence when enhanced by grace.
Risk-taking Tigger
Then there’s Owl, who lives at The Wolery. This wise old bird is somewhat ponderous, finds interruptions tiresome and likes to give the impression that he knows more than he actually does. The Owl you know may be one of the younger children who desperately wants to keep up with his/her siblings. The desire to be both seen and heard is legitimate and it’s our privilege as parents to make space for that. Grandparents have an invaluable role here. Usually having more time available, they can come alongside those who are trying hard yet not quite making their own self-appointed grade.
Happy is the family (usually) who has a Kanga among them. She’s the softly-spoken mother of little Roo; the nurturer, carer and hospitable character in the wood. Probably, but not necessarily the mum, this individual often sets the atmosphere of the home, whether an adult or a child. I’m grateful for the gentle, patient, kind, mostly maternal figures who I’ve met on my journey with Jesus. They’ve dispensed their own spiritual “strengthening medicine” through the years. Their acceptance and mentoring has brought me insight and wisdom. Now my role is to be a Kanga for others wherever I can.
Grandparents can come alongside those who are trying hard yet not quite making their own self-appointed grade.
The popular figure of Tigger almost certainly has some ADHD associated behaviour. They find it hard to concentrate, are energetic, enthusiastic, blithely optimistic to the point of recklessness, sunny and carefree individuals who bound through life with the same exuberance as Pooh’s striped friend. Combined with vibrant faith, these may be the game-changers, the history-makers who attempt great things for God in their generation. Our world is crying out for radical disciples who defy convention and spell risk F-A-I-T-H. It’s daunting to parent them, but it’s also a privilege.
Flourising families
How reassuring to notice that all Pooh’s friends have glaring flaws and foibles but, like our families, it’s the less-than-perfect people knocking along together, clashing, falling out, forgiving and helping one another that make up the family of God.
None of us choose our family, but we do choose how we react to and interact with them. Family was God’s idea from the beginning. It’s where we get rooted and flourish; where that combination of nature and nurture are played out, setting the internal compass for what’s to come.
God’s intention is that ”As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). Not slice each other up, but hone, enhance and strengthen one another for the benefit of all. God doesn’t make mistakes; we can trust that He’s put our eclectic and diverse family around us for a purpose. If we keep asking Him for wisdom and grace as we seek to apply biblical principles to parenting our disparate offspring, we can learn from them just as we trust they’re learning from us.
Just as Christopher Robin’s love for his toy-children is what holds them together, so God’s love for us binds us into a family of sparkling variety and extraordinary uniqueness, for His glory.
