By Karen Y. Stevens

I bet you think I’m talking about Waylon Jennings. Well, you would be wrong. My very first grandson was born on August 7, 2018, and they named him Waylon.

So, what does my new grandson have to do with a religionist column, you ask? Nothing, I just wanted to write about him! LOL!

Actually, the Bible has so much to say about children. Children are mentioned 230 times in the Bible.

My favorite is Psalm 137: 3-5 which states: “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children 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 opponents in court.”

I love that God says our children are a reward. It’s a great statement that our children will be there for us or should be. The reason being is because we were there for them. We support our children thru good and bad decisions, just like God does with us. We try to lead them and guide them, and then when we are old and forgetful, they lead and guide us.

We should have this same relationship with God. We praise Him, spend time with Him, and He is there for us. Not that God needs us, just like we don’t need our children. But we do desire to be around them, converse with them. And just as God desires to be with us; we should desire to be with Him.

“Life Advancer” tells us that spending time with Family is more important than you think. The top 2 were “Builds Self-Esteem” and “Creates Bonds”.

First of all, children who spend quality time with their loved ones, have self-confidence. They are more sociable because they sense that their parents value them. Kids with self-esteem find it easy to build relationships. Families who enjoy group activities will develop strong relationships, and handle stressful situations with ease.

It is important for our children to be social and well liked. It will make it easier for them to get good jobs and have an easy life if they value themselves. We all want to be liked and it’s important for us to spend time with other people as well.

According to the “mere-exposure effect”, people tend to like other people who are familiar to them.  In one example, psychologists at the University of Pittsburgh had four women pose as students in a university psychology class. Each woman showed up in class, a different number of times. When experimenters showed male student’s pictures of the four women, the men demonstrated a greater affinity for those women they’d seen more often in class — even though they hadn’t interacted with any of them. So, take the opportunity to not only interact with your children, but find ways for all of you to interact together with other people. Your children, whether they are grown or small, will thank you for it.

 

Karen Y. Stevens is founder of the Orange County Christian Writers Guild