Making a Child's Day

As I walked through the front door, I heard two little voices excitedly yell from down the hall, “Dan’s home! Dan, will you come play with us?!”

4-year-old Gordon and 6-year-old Grace came running around the corner as they waved, “Hi Dan!” They had friends over, and were playing in the back room while their mother taught a piano lesson in the front room. Their eyes sparkled with excitement as they looked up expectantly, huge smiles spreading across their faces.

Taking me by the hand, they pulled me toward the playroom, “Come play with us, Dan!”

As they led me away, I smiled. It truly didn’t take a lot to make them happy.

While the concerns of life are important, they can ultimately serve as distractions if we don’t prioritize them and regularly take time for with those we love–especially children. Kids don’t worry about all the things we adults do. They don’t have any complex requirements that need to be met in order for them to be happy. Just recently, little Gordon asked why I had to go to work instead of just staying to play with him all day! I have learned from experiences like this that all children need and want is a little bit of time, attention, encouragement, and love. Whether or not they receive these can make or break a kid’s day.

As adults, we’re concerned with paying the bills, maintaining and improving our health, losing weight, aging, politics and happenings in the world around us, and any other number of interests that we might deem important. None of these things matter to children. The world is different for them than it is for us. All they are worried about is whether or not they are cherished by those they love.

Therefore, let us strive to give the children around us the time, attention, and love they need so they can flourish. Children will strive to recreate the world they experience growing up and, as a result, will make the world either better or worse. Kids will only think the world is messed up if we do. If we teach our children how bad the world is, they will grow to accept it; if we show them an experience of how the world should be, they will strive to create it. 

Take the time to show your children how the world should be.

Play with them. Talk with them. Teach them. Encourage them. Cherish them. Love them.

If we take the time to show our children that we love them, they will blossom and grow exponentially. We must keep our priorities straight. We must take (and make) the time to show our children that we love them. They will see the world, and themselves, better because of it.

What could possibly be more important than this?