Bible Text: Psalm 127:3-5 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:3-5

“If we paid no more attention to our flowers than we do to our children,” said botanist Luther Burbank, “we would be living in a jungle.”   Opening statements like that automatically make you want to switch the dial to another station, especially if you have just dropped your child off at a day care center, are late for work, or feel like taking your youngster back and trading him in for another model. There are days when those precious jewels are semi-precious, and those sweet little ones are bitter-sweet.

“Nobody told me that being a parent would be this tough,” said a young mother. True, I know. I’ve been there. But what may be heartening to you, should you be able to relate to the frustration that a lot of young mothers go through, is that when you win the battle by not running up the white flag when they are small, you’ll enjoy your child as a teenager a whole lot more.

The foundation of a building is the most important part of the entire structure, and so is it in parenting. In this series I’ve been talking about foundation stones of parenting–ones which need to be firmly imbedded in the early years. They include commitment to a game plan, care which means old-fashioned love (yes, the kind that includes discipline); and in the moments that follow, allow me to stress the importance of another foundation stone: communication.

A four-year-old went to a rather exclusive restaurant with his parents, and after they had looked at the menu, the waiter began taking orders. “And what would you like tonight?” he asked the little boy who excitedly told him what sounded good. After the waiter finished taking orders, the little boy turned to his parents and exclaimed, “Wow! He thinks I’m a real person!”

That little guy or little girl who came into your lives as a baby is just as much a real person as you are. The difference is twenty or thirty years of experience which he or she will get the same way you got yours–one day at a time. It’s a proven fact that children whose parents talk to them, read to them, and communicate with them develop faster and are more intelligent than their counterparts who don’t get that special communication.

One prenatal study also has demonstrated that even before a baby is born, it recognizes the voice of its mother and responds differently to her voice than to that of a stranger.   By the time a child is born, it readily identifies different voices which have been part of his or her environment.

It’s amazing but true–kids are real people, and like our flowers which either grow or wither with care, they respond in kind to the input that we give them. While I’m tempted to give you some statistics on how little time parents are spending with their preschool children these days, that’s kind of an exercise in futility–like creating more guilt when you already struggle with your conscience.

Instead, may I encourage you to take advantage of those early years? Long ago God gave us a promise: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Another version puts it, “Point your kids in the right direction—when they’re old they won’t be lost” (The Message). A closing thought:   Every parent impacts the life of his child–either negatively or positively. When you are positive and upbeat, your children embrace the same attitudes, and when you get under stress, you convey the same thing to them. Are kids a mirror of ourselves? Far more than we would like to admit. Remember, raising positive kids in a negative world begins with you and ends with you, too. It’s a fact.

Resource reading: Colossians 3