Today, I want to encourage everyone who is a parent to keep playing with your kids. It can be easy in the busyness of life to forget to nurture the playful spirits that children have. We may feel tired, or discouraged by the stresses that unexpected bills, problems, or the never-ending list of things that we "need" to get done.
Children develop identity in close relation to the emotions that they feel. They chemically link emotions and memories. Their memory works sort of like a series of snapshots. At around 12, they start to develop the ability to string these snapshots together, and develop their identity from these things. If the majority of the snapshots that they find are linked with negative emotions, they can easily develop a negative view of themselves. Perhaps they think, "I'm just a sad person, because most of my memories are sad." Or they may think, "I'm just an angry person, because I'm always angry."
You might be asking, how does this relate to playing? We need to cultivate joy in the lives of our children, and ourselves. As a young parent myself, I love to watch my son Judah enjoy life. I love it when he is captivated by the wonder of the world that God has made. When we play, we realize that the world is not just dark, depressing, and gloomy. There is joy, and wonder to be found. Encourage positive memory-making with your kids. Take time and invest it into your kids, expressing your joy in them. Play with them,and let them work alongside you. Make positive memories together.
It's important to note that Jesus can change these negative self-images in a heartbeat, although, often he addresses them little by little as we grow in relationship with him.
Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”
Jesus took time for children, let's follow his example!
Be Blessed!
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