Topic : Children

One day as I was picking the toys up off the floor,
I noticed a small hand print on the wall beside the door.
I knew that it was something that I’d seen most every day,
but this time when I saw it there, I wanted it to stay.

Then tears welled up inside my eyes, I knew it wouldn’t last,
for every mother knows her children grow up way too fast.
Just then I put my chores aside and held my children tight.
I sang to them sweet lullabies and rocked into the night.

Sometimes we take for granted, all those things that seem so small.
Like one of God’s great treasures.... A small hand print on the wall.

Source unknown

We need to look at what the Bible says about parenting:

• Parents must teach God’s truth (Dt. 4:9; 32:46).
• Parents must lovingly discipline children because they are immature and need guidance (Prov. 22:15; 29:15).
• Parents should not exasperate their children (Eph. 6:4).
• Parents’ wise decisions bring blessing to their children (Dt. 30:19-20).
• Parents who are godly teach their children to obey (Eph. 6:1; 1 Tim. 3:4).
• Parents who faithfully train their children can be confident that their efforts are not in vain (Prov. 22:6).

JDB, Our Daily Bread, Sept.-Nov. 1997, page for October 12

• You can be anything you want to be when you grow up.
• Nobody can pedal the bike for you.
• If You wait until you’re really sure, you’ll never take off your training wheels.
• Nobody notices when your zipper is up, but everyone notices when your zipper is down.
• Sometimes you have to take the test before you’ve finished studying.
• If you’re going to fight, use pillows.
• Before you trade sandwiches, check between the bread.
• You have to eat a lot of cereal before you find the free toy.
• If you want a kitten, start out asking for a horse.
• You don’t have to own a swing to enjoy it.
• It doesn’t matter how fast you’re running with the ball if you’re going in the wrong direction.
• Sometimes the biggest apple has the biggest worm.
• Every castle has a dungeon.
• A little kiss can make a big difference.

Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me by Cynthia Copeland Lewis, quoted in MSC Health Action News, Jan./Feb. 1997, p. 7

Insanity is hereditary—you can get it from your children. - Sam Levenson

Source unknown

Gracious Lord, our children see,
By Thy mercy we are free;
But shall these, alas! remain
Subjects still of Satan’s reign'

Israel’s young ones, when of old
Pharaoh threaten’d to withhold,
Then Thy messenger said, “No;
Let the children also go!”

When the angel of the Lord,
Drawing forth his dreadful sword,
Slew with an avenging hand,
All the first-born of the land;

When Thy people’s doors he pass’d,
Where the bloody sign was placed:
Hear us, now, upon our knees,
Plead the blood of Christ for these!

Lord, we tremble, for we know
How the fierce malicious foe,
Wheeling round his watchful flight,
Keeps them ever in his sight:

Spread Thy pinions, King of kings!
Hide them safe beneath Thy wings;
Lest the ravenous bird of prey
Stoop and bear the brood away.

Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

I saw a young mother, with eyes full of laughter,
and two little shadows come following after.
Wherever she moved, they were always right there—
holding onto her skirts, hanging onto her chair,
before her, behind her—an adhesive pair.
“Don’t you ever get weary as, day after day,
your two little tagalongs get in your way?”
She smiled as she shook her pretty young head,
and I’ll always remember the words that she said:
“It’s good to have shadows that run when you run,
that laugh when you’re happy and hum when you hum —
for you only have shadows when your life’s filled with sun!”

“Shadows” by Martha Wadsworth, quoted in Family Matters

When the 10-year-olds in Mrs. Imogene Frost’s class at the Brookside, N.J. Community Sunday School expressed their views of “What’s wrong with grownups?” they came up with these complaints:

1. Grownups make promises, then they forget all about them, or else they say it wasn’t really a promise, just a maybe.

2. Grownups don’t do the things they’re always telling the children to do—like pick up their things, or be neat, or always tell the truth.

3. Grownups never really listen to what children have to say. They always decide ahead of time what they’re going to answer.

4. Grownups make mistakes, but they won’t admit them. They always pretend that they weren’t mistakes at all—or that somebody else made them.

5. Grownups interrupt children all the time and think nothing of it. If a child interrupts a grownup, he gets a scolding or something worse.

6. Grownups never understand how much children want a certain thing—a certain color or shape or size. If it’s something they don’t admire—even if the children have spent their own money for it—they always say, “I can’t imagine what you want with that old thing!”

7. Sometimes grownups punish children unfairly. It isn’t right if you’ve done just some little thing wrong and grownups take away something that means an awful lot to you. Other times you can do something really bad and they say they’re going to punish you, but they don’t. You never know, and you ought to know.

8. Grownups are always talking about what they did and what they knew when they were 10 years old—but they never try to think what it’s like to be 10 years old right now.

For Families Only, J.A. Petersen, ed., Tyndale, 1977, p. 253

A group of expectant fathers were in a waiting room, while their wives were in the process of delivering babies. A nurse came in and announced to one man that his wife had just given birth to twins. “That’s quite a coincidence” he responded, “I play for the Minnesota Twins!” A few minutes later another nurse came in and announced to another man that he was the father of triplets. “That’s amazing,” he exclaimed, “I work for the 3M company.” At that point, a third man slipped off his chair and laid down on the floor. Somebody asked him if he was feeling ill. “No,” he responded, “I happen to work for the 7-up company.”

Source unknown

Evidences of Original Sin. Test this on the toddlers in your home or church this Christmas!

1. If I like it, it’s mine.

2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.

5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.

8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.

9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.

Deb Lawrence, Missionary to the Philippines with SEND International, quoted in Prokope, November/December, 1992, p. 3

In her book, First Lady from Plains, Rosalynn Carter told of the “wonderfully odd” things she learned about White House history while a resident there. It seems that the children of President James A. Garfield rode large three-wheelers around as they carried on pillow fights in the East Room. Teddy Roosevelt’s five children slid down the staircases on trays stolen from the pantry, walked the halls on stilts, and once took a pony into a second-floor bedroom after riding up on the president’s elevator!

Today in the Word, September 6, 1992

• A small child is someone who can wash his hands without getting the soap wet.
• The trouble with children is that when they’re not being a lump in your throat, they’re being a pain in your neck.
• Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.
• A child is a person who can’t understand why someone would give away a perfectly good kitten. - Doug Larson
• You cannot teach a child to take care of himself unless you will let him take care of himself. He will make mistakes, and out of these mistakes will come his wisdom. - H.W. Beecher
• Men are generally more careful of their horses and dogs than of their children. - Wm. Penn
• Almost every child would learn to write sooner if allowed to do his homework on wet cement.

Sources unknown

Nineteenth century Scottish preacher Horatius Bonar asked 253 Christian friends at what ages they were converted. Here’s what he discovered:

Our Daily Bread

Celeste Sibley, one-time columnist for the Atlanta (GA) Constitution, took her three children to a diner for breakfast one morning. It was crowded and they had to take separate seats at the counter. Eight-year-old Mary was seated at the far end of the counter and when her food was served she called down to her mother in a loud voice, “Mother, don’t people say grace in this place?” A hush came over the entire diner and before Mrs. Sibley could figure out what to say, the counterman said, “Yes, we do, sister. You say it.” All the people at the counter bowed their heads. Mary bowed her head and in a clear voice said, “God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food.”

Bits and Pieces, May, 1990, p. 10

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that 30 years ago, the greatest fears of grade school children were: 1) Animals, 2) Being in a dark room, 3) High places, 4) Strangers, 5) Loud noises.

Today, kids are afraid of the following: 1) Divorce, 2) Nuclear war, 3) Cancer, 4) Pollution, 5) Being mugged.

Back to the Bible Today, Summer, 1990, p. 5

Father, hear us, we are praying.
Hear the words our hearts are saying.
We are praying for our children.
Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril.

Father, hear us for our children.
From the worldling’s hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Father, Father, keep our children.

Through life’s troubled waters steer them.
Through life’s bitter battles cheer them.
Father, Father, be thou near them.
And wherever they may bide,
Lead them home at eventide.

—Amy Carmichael

Source unknown

Said a precious little laddie to his Father one bright day
“May I give myself to Jesus? Let Him wash my sins away?”
“Oh my son, but you’re too little wait until you older grow,
For bigger folk ‘tis true do need Him but little ones are safe, you know.”

Said the Father to the laddie as a storm was coming on,
“Are the sheep all safely sheltered safe within the fold, my son?”
“Ah—the big ones are, my Father but the lambs, I let them go
For I didn’t think it mattered, little ones are safe, you know.”

Oh my brother, oh, my sister; have you too made that mistake'
Little hearts that now are yielded may be hardened then too late.
Ere the evil days come nigh them “Let the children come to Me
And forbid them not,” said Jesus “Of such shall my Kingdom be.”

Author unknown