Cool NEW Rope Hat

Our family is observing No-Screen November. Instead of watching screens every afternoon and evening, we sit together in the family room and read the Bible, pray, and sing hymns together.

Just kidding. 

Let me be real with you.

We ARE doing No-Screen November, but it has NOT significantly increased our family Bible study time (that’s on the bucket list, though!). What is HAS improved is my sanity. 

Two of our three kids have smartphones, and though the majority of apps are unavailable to them, and social media is waaaaaay out of the question, we do allow them to watch certain YouTube channels. One kid is into hunting and the other is into fishing. Despite our strict rules and their supervised watching, unwanted attitudes still creep in from behind the screens. All these YouTube guys who film their hunts and fishing trips promote certain products, which, of course, my fourteen and twelve-year-old boys think they, too, must have. 

Jacin and I were constantly listening to what type of deer stand the oldest HAD to have, or what kind of fishing pole the middle NEEDED to upgrade to. The boys became absolutely obsessed with having the “best” and “newest” gear. And it wore us out. The final straw was on a ride home from school when one kid asked for this cool “new” hat. The convo went like this:

“Mom, you HAVE to see this new hat they released today. It’s so cool, and other companies are already trying to copy it. We need to order one so I can have the OG” my shotgun-riding son said as he flashed his phone at me, expecting me to take my eyes off the road to stare at his phone while I’m driving. 

“I can’t look at that right now, but what makes this hat so cool and different?” I answered, trying not to roll my eyes.

“It’s called a rope hat. It has a rope going across the front of it,” he answered, pocketing his phone. “I’ll show it to you when we get home, but it’s so cool. Everybody wants one, and I’ve never seen one like it before! I’d be the first at school to wear one!”

“Uh-huh. Ok, I’ll take a look at it later,” I said, as I stifled a chuckle because in my head I’m envisioning a rope-turban hat thingy sitting atop a tough gun-toting camo-wearing guy’s head. 

When we arrived home, he showed me a picture of this cool “new” rope hat, and what I saw on his phone made me laugh out loud. 

It reminded me of an ugly hat my dad wore in the 90s. His was neon green with a thin rope running across the front bill.  Admittedly, this cool “new” hat my son was pining for was camo with the hunting company’s logo on it, but still, it was the exact same ugly-style hat with a random piece of rope stretched across the front. Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted that these “rope hats” would make a comeback. And I definitely would never have predicted my son would want one.

“Buddy!” I said, trying to deliver the news gently, “these are not cool, and they are definitely not new. This type of hat has been around for years! Rayray had one when I was a kid. It was bright green and embarrassing.”

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes as he signed and stomped off mumbling, “Mom, you just don’t get it.” 

But I DID get it. What seemed so neat and novel to him wasn’t actually neat or new.

Nothing ever is.

A passage from Ecclesiastes popped into my mind: 

All things are wearisome,

    more than one can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing,

    nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again,

    what has been done will be done again;

    there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecc 1:8 & 9

King Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, was tired, and I can totally identify. “All things are wearisome,” he says. 

Yep. Absolutely. 

Things! Stuff! The newest, the latest, the best! Hunting equipment! Fishing Gear! More, more, more! It never stops! 

Our eyes never stop seeing new stuff we want. Our ears never stop hearing about new things we need. 

And the irony of it all is that none of the “new” stuff we lust after is really new. “There is nothing new under the sun.” 

Initially, the book of Ecclesiastes appears sad and maybe even a bit desperate, but upon closer inspection you can almost hear King Solomon sharing his mistakes with us in hopes that we’ll take another route. Ecclesiastes is a warning against trying to find satisfaction in stuff, in reputation or position or power or possessions… in anything here “under the sun.” 

Nothing here on Earth is new or fulfilling. And trying to fill your cup with it will only leave you frustrated and empty. 

All of this flashed through my mind as my son walked away, disappointed that I wasn’t awed and excited about his not-so-new and not-so-cool rope hat. 

Two weeks later, the hubster and I decided to implement No-Screen November, and the results have been nothing short of miraculous. My three have played together more and have gotten along better! But the best part is, I haven’t heard one single thing about wanting stuff. Amazingly, they have endured and even enjoyed using what they already have! Incredible.  

So no, we’re not super parents. And we’re still a long way off from being a model family. But we are trying our darndest to build kids who pursue Jesus instead of worldly possessions or pleasures. It’s definitely not easy, and it’s a L O N G process, but I’m positive the pay-off will be more than worth it.