Parenting - The Owners Manual

This week my adult children, my daughter-in-law and my beautiful granddaughter are here for the holiday. I have spent much of the time on the floor playing with my grand-baby and I am in heaven. She is 6 months old now and is learning about the world around her and the effect she can have on it. She is more fun to watch than my favorite show.

So this week I have been thinking about something a friend said to me many years ago in reference to her little granddaughter, she said, "Every little child needs and ought to feel as if the whole world is in love with her."

When I first heard her say these profound words I reflected on so many little children whom I have had in my office, who had been abused, neglected or otherwise mistreated in their short little life. Most often these children seemed spiritually drained of all connection with humanity. The look in their eyes was of profound sadness, and I could often see the buds of hopelessness. But just behind those soulful glances was often a spark of hope; hope that with me they would find someone who would not abandon them, who would not fail them, and who would love them unconditionally.

These little children deserved to be prized, even cherished in their families. They desperately wanted to find a way to make their parents love them enough to raise them calmly, without violence, without making them feel like an unwanted wart the parent was stuck with.

My little granddaughter is 6 months old and already she realizes that she is loved and can share love herself. She loves new people, and she expects that everyone is just as happy to see her as she is to see them. Her sense of self is budding into a rare and priceless flower who's mark on this world will be that of her own making, instead of the fallout from a home filled with anger, instability and neglect.

We know very little about the baby Mary raised to become the Savior of the World, but my guess it that he was loved beyond measure and that he too felt love for everyone around him. How else could he have risen to become the humble, empathetic and great leader her was. He was not beat down. Instead he was allowed to rise up and to flourish and become our best example in all things.

Let's raise our children as if they were gifts from God.