We are the mentors of our children

I have been working with young children for almost 40 years in the age range of 0 to 3 years, my specialty is motor development more than anything and I have worked with children with developmental disabilities and with children who are developing normally as well, and despite Since I have been in this field for so many years, I am passionate about children, I think that children are the greatest resources that we have among us and we must invest in them, so I thank God for resources like this that are empowering parents , the tools to do an excellent job in raising your children specifically in that age of 0 to 3 years, so please take advantage of those resources, right? don't miss that opportunity.

And throughout my career I have seen how the main factor for a child to achieve his greatest potential are the parents in charge of that child, there are no secrets, if a child is progressing, learning well, it is because there is someone who is investing their resources in caring for that child, in giving him what he needs so that he reaches a new level and can accept other opportunities and challenges in the future. So I encourage that to be the attitude of all of us, to invest in children no matter what it is; many of us do not have children but we have nephews, others at work, let's do everything we can to invest in the lives of those children.

So professionally, well, when I had our first daughter 32 years ago, I knew a lot about development, but when you have a child you realize it, even as a professional I realized that I knew very little and that in reality the real learning was beginning. with having our first daughter. And well, I realized that I knew very little and I realized that this child had the capacity to turn our lives upside down, a dramatic change and all those who have been parents, who are starting that career know what I mean, you change your priorities. Things that you never thought you were going to do begin to do, feelings that you had never had blossom in your heart, it is a wonderful experience.

It is a little creature, a being so small that it changes your life but at the same time you have the responsibility to change that person's life, to help them grow, to develop, but in that process the most changed and most We are the parents, and I thank God for that, for that blessing of motherhood.

As parents we are entrusted with a little being that is made in the image and likeness of God, it is a being that carries our biological DNA, from its parents but never forget that it also has the DNA of its heavenly father, that little creature, and our greatest task in life as parents is to nurture that child so that it becomes, so that God's destiny and purpose in that life can be fully fulfilled, so that nothing is wasted, no gift that a child can have, because we are helping them to move forward.

Like every dad and mom, I know that you are like us too, as a father and a mother, you want your children to be successful in everything. One is heartbroken when one's little one cannot achieve something, so are we parents, and one of the most important requests that we can present to the Lord is that He give us all the wisdom we need to guide our children. children in all areas, not only educationally but spiritually, emotionally, in all areas. We are the stewards of the resources that this child has and we have to get the most out of it, the best use for it to flourish in all the splendor that God intends for that child to grow.

At home as parents we are the first evangelists of that little creature, the home is where our children see the Scriptures and Biblical principles become a reality, and it is at home where we have to be so careful that there is no disconnection between what we apparently believe in the spiritual of the Word of God and how we live our lives, there must be no disconnection, there must be absolute fluidity. That child must grow up in a home where biblical principles come out of the mouth of his parents at all times to guide him and that the same is Sunday in the Church as Monday or Tuesday and that the rest of the week, that is our task, that each child that is in our homes the children grow up loving the Lord from an early age.

I believe that it is our responsibility to be stewards of all the resources that this child brings with him in all areas but especially in the spiritual, let us never forget it. When we raise we cannot be improvising strategies as we feel or as circumstances arise, we raise them this way if we feel this way or depending on such or such a circumstance, it should not be so, we in our parenthood cannot be improvising.

Time is going to fly and I tell you from experience, I already have the prospect of being a grandmother, so our nest, as they say out there, is empty, it has not been emptied, rather it has been filled with more, thank God but no they are with us at home, and our responsibility is to take advantage of every moment because time is so short and flies so fast, and many times in our North American culture, children already go to university at 18, they are no longer at home like this that we have to take advantage of every minute that this boy is under our roof, that girl is under our roof to instill love for the Lord, to teach him in all areas of life.

When we start a great project or a great work such as parenthood, we have to define from the beginning what we want to achieve. Every father, every person who works with children must ask themselves: what is my goal, what is my vision of the future of that boy or that girl? This is a question that we must be reviewing in our minds and answering it with concrete actions, not only with good wishes and dreams, but also putting everything on our part so that the dream that we have about the life of that child must be the same dream. that God has, becomes a reality, that should be our entrustment to each child.

And I'm afraid that as parents we have a tendency to underestimate our young children's ability to understand biblical concepts. When it is such a fruitful time, the land is fertile, we have to teach our children biblical concepts, guide them, show them, the Gospel has to become real in our home, in the home environment first and then in other areas for the same reason.

And an example of how a young child can understand deep biblical concepts came courtesy of my son-in-law. Since our grandson Caleb was one year old, Miguel, that's his father's name, began to train him in the concepts of wisdom, prudence and self-control and you will say: what, a little boy learning about wisdom, prudence and self-control ? And well, it is like that, I myself was surprised by that teaching that he was giving.

And what happened is that every time Caleb's behavior was less than desirable, Miguel summoned him to accompany him to another room and closed the door, for what? to give him privacy, to be able to correct him alone with the child so he wouldn't be embarrassed, and every conversation when Caleb violated a rule or something began with this question: Caleb, what are you? That question was like that to which Caleb invariably responded: I am a wise, prudent and self-controlled child, and so his father easily led him in a conversation appropriate to his age and his knowledge, of course, where he made him understand what the expectations were in terms of his behavior, which rule he had violated, and it led him to examine himself to see what his responsibility was in regards to what he had violated.

A very interesting process that is still working, and of course, let me clarify, his behavior is not perfect like every child, he is a child after all, however, what I have seen that has remained from this process that began so early is that Caleb has a transparency with his parents, he goes to where they are, when they ask him something he says: yes I did that and he assumes his responsibility, and he is doing everything on his part to learn and discern what is good and what is bad , what honors God and what dishonors God, and that is a wonderful process, and I thank God because Miguel came up with such a strategy that he has brought out the best that was in the mind and spirit of Caleb to put it to work and it is something that is still bearing fruit.

Although we as parents many times do not admit this because it is difficult to admit, many times we act as if the children are an interruption, but the children are not an interruption that we have to solve in order to do the things that are truly important in life. , children are never an interruption, we can be busy or doing other things but children are never an interruption and they are the most important ministry of the moment.

I ask you to pray so that God gives you the wisdom and understanding to see wisdom in that, when the tediousness of life, when the occupations, when the tiredness, when the same repeated action that you already say: but I am already tired, taking care of your children, especially if you have more than one that becomes even more complicated, at that moment recognize the beauty of that moment and enjoy it because very soon it will not be there, very soon you will say: oh I wish they were little ones again, but children grow up, so ask God for that actively, that God give you the eyes to recognize the beauty of those moments and make the most of them.

We all know that raising children is not easy right? it requires patience, it requires determination, continuous intentionality in the midst of a sea of thousands of responsibilities because we all have many things to do, and in the midst of that we have to renew our patience, our focus to continue doing the task that God has given us.

I remember how difficult it was for me to find time to read to our daughters, sometimes they had a favorite book and instead of reading it just once they wanted to read it two or three times, that is, once after another. I confess that this made me angry and sometimes I was tempted to show my anger and think: how unfair, how can it occur to them after a woman has worked all day, that she has done this and this, and now you want me to read that book to you again! And even though I was tempted to let out the little monster that we all carry inside, I knew, because I knew how important that was, I could then please them, and do you know what happened? Well, one that they are book lovers and the other, are memories that we have been able to treasure until today, so it is worth it, because those moments help us establish the bases for many things in the future, including the bond of love that it gets stronger.

It is never too early to start reading to our children. If you still do not have or are expecting a baby or are thinking of ordering a baby, even start buying books, puzzles, little things that they will have later, that you will have them there and ready, it is never early enough, in fact there are programs now, especially in intensive care where moms are already encouraged to read to their children from the time they are inside or in other cases when they are born prematurely, so it is never too early to find the right materials and read to our children.

And here is just a small aside that I could expand on in the morning but there is no time right now, let's be careful with the mobile gadgets that are everywhere, the little games, everything that is in those gadgets is not appropriate for small children and in the long run it can harm them, this is simply a precaution, there are already many studies on this and it has been proven that it is harmful to them, so if you can be a spokesperson for this message, I am infinitely grateful.

As parents, God has entrusted us with the task of being the stewards and promoters of all the potential in our children, and as their main mentors we have to give ourselves to the task of several things and the first is to know them personally. Our children are not an extension of us, they are individuals: when they are born they already have unique characteristics, unique interests, they are individuals, so it is very important that we give ourselves the task of discovering what they like, what they dislike, what interests they have and help them build on those interests that they already have, because we each, if we have more than one child, we will see that each one is totally different from the other, each one has their own qualities and their own temperament and it is important that we let's take the time to get to know them personally.

Another task for us as our children's mentors is to be intentional in providing an environment that encourages them to explore and learn more, that is our responsibility, and remember that each one of you is the most important factor in that environment and you will to be the one who is going to model them in different areas, how to communicate, how to solve problems, how to run, everything, we are going to be the ones who are going to model all that for them and to create the environment that they want to imitate what we do we are teaching them.

We too have to share with our children the joy of exploration and discovery. All of us are learning something new, exploring something new, isn't it the same to do it alone or accompanied? when we are accompanied it has a different flavor, there is a different joy and as parents we have to be there, in English it is the word cheerleader, animators, the one who is there applauding and motivating the child, encouraging him to continue exploring more.

Once, a quick example, my daughter once saw a little bird in the yard that was dying so very small that it fell out of the nest and she looked for me so that I could help her heal the little bird, and that, she learned so much with that process, in fact I don't think it was necessarily because of that but years later she chose nursing so it was something that was already inside her, and she enlisted me to set up an emergency room for the little bird. The little bird died a few hours later but that helped her and I to let her know that I supported her in her interests and we had wonderful conversations about philosophy and spiritual things because I took the time to accompany her in that discovery and in that exploration, and those opportunities are given daily, the point is not to think that we are so busy that we cannot take advantage of those opportunities.

And the last, another resource that we should take advantage of being there for our children in mentoring for them is sharing the joy of mastering a skill, in English it is called mastery, sharing the joy of mastering a skill. Little children when they get something into their head, for example that I want to master walking, they practice, practice, practice, how wonderful that we are there accompanying them in this process and also applauding them because once again that will motivate them even more to want to master even more complex things.

So these four areas, first of all, that we as parents or anyone who has children in their care, especially young children, is getting to know them as unique beings, as the individuals that they are, providing them with an emotional spiritual environment that makes it easier for them to imitate the communication and modeling that we are offering you, actively accompany you in your joy of exploring and discovering and in your joy of mastering those four. If we do these four things with the children that are around us, we will produce great fruit.

The first thing is that these experiences are going to be written in our children's memory book, they are going to be there forever, second, they are going to position you as an important resource in the life of that child and later on they are going to search again so that you are accompanying them in this process, the third fruit is that they will solidify the bond of love, the unbreakable love, they will make it even more real, and fourth, when we do all those things that I have said, we will to provide a solid foundation that will lead them to try new things and make it easier for them to succeed in future opportunities and challenges. How wonderful that we can simply take the time and do the things that I have said, we can obtain such great fruit for our investment in the lives of our children.

Jonathan Edwards, if the musicians can come in, thank you, they are here, Jonathan Edwards was a famous preacher of the 1800s and he prayed the following, listen to this prayer, it is a very simple phrase, it says: "Lord, stamp eternity on my eyes" that is, that you as a parent, as a person who is an influence on children, small children, children of any age, that you see the eternity and the purpose that God has placed in each child that is around you and that we all be found faithful to have invested everything we have, put everything we can in the life of that child so that God's potential is fulfilled in that child for the glory of God, that should be our prayer. So if you want, join me in a final prayer to close our service.

Thank you Father, I thank you for the lives of children, for the treasure they are, I thank you for motherhood, I thank you for the opportunity to influence children in the different environments in which we move. Father, as Jonathan Edwards used to say, teach us to see eternity in each child, give us the wisdom, the understanding, the strength to minister to their lives, Lord, with all the courage, with all the passion, knowing, Lord, that this is not going to to be in vain, that there will be great fruit, that eternity and purpose, the destiny that You have placed in each child under our care will flourish, Your purpose for their life will be fulfilled and that everything will be for may Your purposes be fulfilled and so that it is all for Your glory Lord.

Help us Lord, teach us, teach us to minister to children in all areas, Lord bless their intellect, bless their knowledge, their emotions, their spirit, Lord that we never underestimate a child but rather the opposite Lord, let's invest, let's make a part, stop and invest in the life of that child Lord, help us to minister with power and wisdom in their lives Lord, thank you Father in Jesus Name we have prayed Father, amen, thank you Father.