A recent reading presented a striking phrase. Moses was preparing the Israelites to go into Canaan, and he referred to “your children who do not know good from bad” (Deuteronomy 1:39). Lots of people throughout history have tried to define this idea of when a child knows good from bad. Jews have bar mitzvahs for boys at age 13 and bat mitzvahs for girls at age 12 to announce that the child is now a son or daughter of the Torah. Some Christians have Confirmation classes about the same age in some traditions, while Roman Catholics confirm at the age of discretion, about age seven. Our church tradition is more of a sliding scale “age of accountability,” where each child is on more of a self-paced Montessori-like exploration until one day they awaken and know right from wrong. When this actually happens is not so apparent; well, at least until you take your children to the playground.
Over the years, we often took our girls to playgrounds, and they never failed to go running toward a playground when they saw it. Seeing the swings, monkey bars, sliding boards, and merry-go-rounds (there used to be one in our hometown until just a few years ago) brought sheer delight on their faces, and I could go sit on the bench and watch them run around. They would play with other children--even total strangers--for up to an hour. They were not suspicious or duplicitous. The playground was paradise, a place of pure joy.
But a time came when we let them out of the car and only one of the three would run toward the playground—the youngest. The other two had been cast out of the Garden and had no interest in a playground anymore. Paradise was lost. The teenagers watched from afar on the park bench along with us as their little sister and other younger children shrieked with delight. The older girls had crossed over a line and could now choose not to participate. They now knew good and evil and had outgrown the playground.The world was no longer a big playground of toys, animals, ice cream, and coloring books. They started deciding that they preferred one thing over another, and this included choices of right and wrong.
When Adam and Eve sinned, “their eyes were opened” and they knew good from evil (Genesis 3:7). This was their moral awakening, and they had now chosen to sin. God had to cast them out of the Garden. I cannot say exactly when this happens for each person, but I think the playground is a good metaphor for when we come to know good and evil. I knew when my girls no longer wanted to play on a playground that something had changed. They had crossed over into the realm of moral accountability. They could now choose for themselves.