Respecting the potential in your children.

‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’ Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

Children are a gift from God. As parents we must recognise that they belong to Him and as Hannah, after our time of nursing and nurturing, our aim should be to dedicate our children fully to God for service.

How will we offer our children to the Master?

Will we be like the wicked servant who buried their talent in the ground and offer back a poorly invested in child, or will our children be rich from our time, dedication and investment?

Think back to the day your child/children were born. A little bundle of joy and happiness, then all of a sudden you had a major responsibility on your hands. You became responsible for a life!

The outcome of your children’s life will depend majorly on what you do with them. Being a teacher puts me in a privileged position of nurturing and shaping the young minds of tomorrow. I get a buzz when I know I have taught my kids in class a new concept.

Children will not pick things up by Osmosis.

Meaning that children learn from real-life experiences and exposure to certain things.

For example, an articulate child will no doubt have been exposed to a language rich environment with lots of books and in depth conversations with parents.  Fancy being the parent of the winner of the Great British Bake Off 2026? Better start baking together in the kitchen!

Putting aside individual personalities, children are a reflection of their parents. To be even more precise, children are a reflection of the input from their parents.

Recently, God began to speak to me about my relationships with my children and told me that I needed to invest in them more (I am by no means a perfect parent!).

So I decided that I’m going to spend each night with eldest son Joshua and teach him how to pray and spend time talking about God with him and declare a blessing over his life.

In a short period of time I noticed a considerable difference in the way he prayed individually and even corporately. This took no more than 10 mins a day. But will carry him through for the rest of his life.

You see, children learn very quickly, but they also grow very quickly. Don’t miss out on opportunities to shape and nuture them. Start now before it’s too late.

In my previous post, respecting the potential in your spouse, I spoke about square pegs not fitting in round holes. We must respect the unique way in which God has created our child and nuture their gifts and talents! You could end up with a resentful child if you push them too hard in a direction that they don’t want to go in. Children do have a voice that needs to be respected.

Find the balance between pushing them too hard (and possibly in the wrong direction) and not pushing them at all. The Holy Spirit is an excellent teacher in this area. Seek God for this balance.

Rebekah saw that Esau had a casual attitude towards important matters. She respected the potential in Jacob and pushed him forwards for the blessing. Now Rebekah favoured Jacob more. Favoured doesn’t mean that she loved her children in unequal measure but rather that for her, there was a special twinkle in her eyes for Jacob. Now each child has their own individual ‘twinkle’. Esau’s twinkle was for hunting and Jacob’s twinkle was for leadership and to be one of the patriarchs. So Rebekah pushed correctly.

More importantly God had also spoken to Rebekah concerning her children, in Gen 25:23 we see that the older will serve the younger. So with this knowledge she was able to act accordingly. God may not give us direct prophesies concerning our children like Rebekah, but that shouldn’t stop us from asking Him to speak to us concerning our children. This can help you to discover and nurture your child’s twinkle.

Respecting the potential in your children has many benefits; your children will become a blessing to you and to others and will grow into all they are meant to be in society, their own homes and in the church.

Being a parent is a Kingdom responsibility. With no investment, there are no returns. Invest what you want to see produced in your children. Respect the potential in your children today as they are the men and women of tomorrow.