The other night I finally got the chance to watch the movie 'The Help' and it has certainly put children on my brain lately. For as long as I can remember, I've loved children. Kid hugs and kisses are priceless, big smiles and giggles can soften any cold heart, but my favorite thing to do is to just talk to kids. Their voices are so fun to listen to and trying out new words always makes for a good laugh. But more importantly, children are still new, fresh from God and so precious. The kind of life they will live is still being built.
As a society I'm afraid we've lost touch with something really special when we can't see a child for the miracle that they are. I know how easy it is to get frustrated with kids especially when things get hectic, someone's sick, messes everywhere and nothing is getting done. But I just can't help saying to myself (and it certainly helps when my own child is driving me nuts), these children didn't choose this life. They didn't choose to be born to this parent or to that situation. It's not their fault and we as adults who are in control of the majority of their life, should not take it out on them, intentionally or not.
I have the luxury of spending a lot of my time with children, my own and other people's. Children are like anything else in your life, they reflect what you put into them. When I start my day whiny, Jude picks up on it fast. When I am frustrated before I've even started teaching a piano lesson, the kid can pick up on it. But do you want to know the biggest, coolest blessing there is? Those little sponges of children can multiply joy, creativity and love in a heart beat a hundred-fold. Making a silly joke, stopping the vacuum to read a book, just listening to what they have to say (whether you can make it all out or not) will change both of your lives! Surely you can remember being a child and just soaring inside when someone took time to pay attention to you, make you feel important.
As parents especially things have to get done and we don't want self-absorbed children. So, sometimes they just won't get what they want. But every child is fearfully and wonderfully made and they all deserve to know that. Take time today to talk to a child.
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important." -The Help
As a society I'm afraid we've lost touch with something really special when we can't see a child for the miracle that they are. I know how easy it is to get frustrated with kids especially when things get hectic, someone's sick, messes everywhere and nothing is getting done. But I just can't help saying to myself (and it certainly helps when my own child is driving me nuts), these children didn't choose this life. They didn't choose to be born to this parent or to that situation. It's not their fault and we as adults who are in control of the majority of their life, should not take it out on them, intentionally or not.
I have the luxury of spending a lot of my time with children, my own and other people's. Children are like anything else in your life, they reflect what you put into them. When I start my day whiny, Jude picks up on it fast. When I am frustrated before I've even started teaching a piano lesson, the kid can pick up on it. But do you want to know the biggest, coolest blessing there is? Those little sponges of children can multiply joy, creativity and love in a heart beat a hundred-fold. Making a silly joke, stopping the vacuum to read a book, just listening to what they have to say (whether you can make it all out or not) will change both of your lives! Surely you can remember being a child and just soaring inside when someone took time to pay attention to you, make you feel important.
As parents especially things have to get done and we don't want self-absorbed children. So, sometimes they just won't get what they want. But every child is fearfully and wonderfully made and they all deserve to know that. Take time today to talk to a child.
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important." -The Help
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