When are you ready for children? When you believe that the love you and your spouse share is a blessing from God above you are ready to have children, for children born into homes where their parents hold their love for one another as the glue are children raised to feel their own spirits and dream their own dreams. Conversely, children whose parents need them to be the glue are children burdened by the knowing that what they do or don’t do makes or breaks their parents’ lives. All too often this is the reason why children act out.

When children arrive do you praise one another as much as you do the children? Take time each morning to tell your spouse that the parenting job they are doing really, really matters. No matter what their failures along the way, when you thank and praise them for their efforts it helps them to know that you notice and appreciate all that they are trying to accomplish which in turn bolsters them to want to do even more. Because children are so time consuming, be certain to look each other in the eyes as you deliver these loving compliments. The effects are similar to gifting each other compliments throughout the day.

Are you taking charge of your children’s lives or are they taking charge of yours? This is an appropriate question for modern parents who feel guilty for not having enough time with their children and allow them to run their homes in too many directions. By believing in your marriage as the rock, you and your spouse place yourselves and your needs first as a couple. This is imperative and deliberate, for if you do not your children will feel lost. But when your children see you build upon your love and trust - even when mistakes are made - they feel safe in their world both ahead and under their feet.

Allow your children to see you pray and know that you believe in something bigger than yourselves. If every child on Earth knew that their parents believed in something higher than themselves they would begin to believe in themselves even more, for when they know that their parents ask for God’s love, approval and guidance, it brings that child to ask for God’s love, approval and guidance even over their peer’s.

Teach your children patience. Inside every child there is a sort of metronome that ticks off the rhythm of the home. In those homes where everything is rushed or pushed to the last minute, the rhythm becomes one of anxiousness for children know not if the details of what life really needs will be met within that shortened timeframe. Invite patience into your home and feel how the entire family unit begins to pulsate with a rhythm that is incredibly warm and loving.

Touch your spouse with loving gestures in front of your children. Keep your love alive in front of your children by openly showing affection. Become affectionate in front of your children by touching one another around the face and arms. What happens is that the idea of love above the reproductive organs is just as important as the act of making love. This picture invites into the minds and hearts of young adolescents that they aren’t missing out on the only way to show and feel mature love and affection.

Are you maturing together as a couple as your children mature? Families who join together for the children’s activities and achievements are only half way home. Each member of the family must become the focus and center of attention at some point each month. Regardless their pursuit of interest, an equal percentage of time for each must be spent for them to feel equally important. If anyone feels their desires are not being recognized, their soul will feel deprived and left behind. Participate lovingly together each month in one another’s field of dreams, be it shoe shopping, fishing, bug catching or writing poetry. Although time alone is important as well, sharing in one another’s dreams is the final piece of the puzzle and delivers each of you into your home in Heaven!

Again, take the time to do these simple but advanced lessons and you will be blessed beyond all measure of what you can imagine. Love and be loved!

Love and Light,

LYNN SCOTT