Encouraging Children

Encourage Your Children

I also believe that encouraged and encouraging parents will produce encouraged and encouraging children.  Living life with a “Yes!” perspective instead of the all-too-common “No!” should be our guiding philosophy with our children; we need to look for things they’re doing right instead of things they’re doing wrong.  And we need to remember that, for children more than anyone else, love is spelled “t-i-m-e.”  The myth propagated years ago that it’s the quality, not the quantity of time that is important in raising children has, thankfully, been debunked many times over.  Children who don’t think they’re important enough for their parents to be with them can easily grow discouraged—especially during adolescence when the critical process of self-definition is taking place.

We can spend time with our children in many ways: in actual one-on-one activities as well as by writing notes and letters, listening, preparing favorite meals, celebrating victories, offering consolation in the face of defeat, and simply being home instead of somewhere else.  The secure child is an encouraged child, and the encouraged child becomes a secure adult—and the cycle continues.

David Jeremiah, Signs of Life, p. 146