Give you children a happy childhood
The most precious part of a person's life
is undoubtedly their childhood. It is in the
first 7 years particularly of a child's life
that their character is forming. It is in
these years that it is most crucial that
children have a close relationship to their
parents or career. As well as training and
learning, a vital part of childhood is
playing. This is where what is observed is
put into practice.
It is important that a child have fun in
their life, stability, direction and love.
The best thing we can give our child for a
happy childhood is a happy marriage, a
peaceful home and our loving guidance and
attention shown at times in playing with
them. This will delight a child no end. The
memories of childhood games especially with
Mother and Father, will last a life-time.
A happy childhood, I believe, prepares a
child for adult life and is a once-off- we
only have one chance to be a child! I
believe that a happy child grows into a
confident adult. Life is tackled more
confidently than the adult who has had an
unhappy childhood. To be denied a happy
childhood often makes an adult resentful and
can cause some people to be 'Peter Pans' who
never grow up. They live life in a constant
state of dramas and dependency on their
parents or others.
Take time to play and read to your
children, give them a routine so that they
can know what is expected in their lives,
and treat them gently and kindly. Expect
them to make messes, cry at your discipline,
get cranky when tired or sick and even
embarrass you sometimes. They are, after
all, children. Let them be loved and know
it- tell them often. They need to hear it. I
have never heard my mother say "I love you"-
she just can't seem to show it. It grieves
me that I am 53 and have never heard those
words from her. I 'know' she loves me, but I
would love to hear those words. So from
someone who's been there- tell your child
often that you love him or her.
Childhood is a growing time, physically,
emotionally, socially and spiritually. Make
your child's childhood special…let them
learn to trust in you and their father and
then to learn to trust God.
Helping your
family love being home
There is no place on earth like home.
Here in our sanctuary, we live out our daily
lives and let our hair down, becoming who we
really are. And sometimes who we are at home
can be anything but who we are in public. We
all know how to put on the charm when we are
in the presence of others. In fact we often
cultivate a public persona: those outside
the home and family often see that which we
wish to be seen as perfect, affable and
socially acceptable. But when we finally get
home where it's just our husband and
children, we often strip off that persona
like a mask and relax our standards. Often
this is not attractive.
I believe that of all places the home
should be where we strive to be the sweetest
and most loving. To our husband and then to
our children. How sad it is when we give our
best to those outside the home to the
detriment and dismay of our family! For home
is where we tend and keep vibrant our most
precious relationship after Christ: our
marriage! Home is where we bear and bring up
the blessings of our marriage, our children!
What they and your husband see is speaking
volumes to them about how they feel being at
home.
If home is filled with tension or
perpetually in disorder, it will breed an
aversion to being there. Often with the
mess, untidiness and tension with the
screaming of the mother, the crying of the
kids, the arguments and so forth, a husband
will delay his homecoming because he really
isn't all that keen to be there. Home for
him is not his castle. He may not even be
aware of this avoidance, but I am sure that
his wife would be! This can often add to the
tension or cause unnecessary problems like
alcoholism from too much time with drinking
after work, or gambling to wile away the
hours until he thinks it may be safe to come
home. And yes, these things can happen in a
Christian home too!
Children and teens are quick to pick up
on tension and will often develop a
revulsion to being home, preferring to stay
at friends' homes until as long as possible,
or delaying coming home from school- even
making excuses to be missing. This is tragic
because it is avoidable. If a home is
reasonably clean and organized, if meals are
on time, if there is a sense of peace and
relaxation and love, I believe the family
will delight to be there. As the wife and as
the mother, we do indeed set the temper of
the home. We can build our house or we can
tear it down with our own hands- it is up to
us- we can have it either way.
By taking reasonable steps to be loving
wives, mothers, and good homemakers, we can
influence how our family relates to their
own home. By providing a relaxing, clean
environment with care taken to provide nice
wholesome and interesting meals, we can
foster a love for the home in our family. By
trying to promote a sense of peace in the
home with minimal arguments and conflicts,
we can create a desire to spend time at
home. This is important for home is the
cradle of civilization and the first meeting
place of God. Don't ever underestimate your
influence on your family- you are the heart
of the home and the light that lights the
path to God through your example. Let's all
be someone our family loves to come home to.
And let us look afresh at the home and
encourage our family to be home with us. The
results will be everlasting and will be
passed on down the generations.
© Glenys Robyn Hicks
"He blesses the habitation of the just"
Proverbs 3:33
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