Spending quality time listening and talking helps build a strong bond of love between parents and their children. We parents can make this type of “talk time” with our children a priority, we can stay positive and lighthearted as we encourage our children with the Word, and we can build the love of God into their hearts.
We can build strong bonds of love by making talk time with our children a priority. We want to be the ones our children turn to. Next to God, no one loves our children as much as we do; and with Christ in us, our love is supercharged! Because we love our children, we want to keep the lines of communication open during the smooth times and during the rough seas.
Romans 12:15:
Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
When my kids come home from school, it’s not the time to go to my office and get work done. When they wake up in the morning, it’s not the best time for me to go and study the Word. These are ideal times for my children and me to talk and listen to each other. We talk with our children to understand what they are thinking and to help us get like-minded.
When my daughter came home from school one day, she looked sad. I asked what was wrong, and she explained that her best friend had said she thought my daughter’s teeth were crooked and needed braces. I listened, told her how beautiful she is, and shared that kids (and even adults) sometimes say foolish things, not realizing that their words could be hurtful. As we talked more about it, she was able to view the situation in a different way. Because of our talk time, she overcame her hurt heart.
We can stay positive and lighthearted as we encourage our children with the Word. As we communicate with our children, we can help to guard their hearts and protect them from certain fears and other negatives from the world so they can have the peace of God reigning in their hearts. We do this with positive encouragement.
Hebrews 3:13:
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
“Exhort” here means to call aside, or to appeal to by way of exhortation, comfort, and instruction. Daily we exhort our children—we encourage them. We tell them what a blessing they are to our lives, and we praise them for a job well done. We tell them how important they are to God and to us. They need our encouragement every single day! We need to stay positive and lighthearted as much as possible. Our attitude will be reflected in them. With children and adults, seeing humor in everyday life situations adds to the quality of our lives; and at times, humor can make instructions and even reproof more fun and easy to be entreated. That’s doing good to the heart of our children.
Proverbs 17:22:
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
All of the loving communication we have with our children is building the love of God into their hearts. We need to tell our children that we love them as well as show them that we love them. Love and acceptance helps them face whatever comes. That love and acceptance must be unconditional like God’s love is for us, not dependent on their performance in certain categories. As we strengthen the bond of love we have with our children, we can be strengthening the bond of love between them and God.
Colossians 3:14:
And above all these things put on charity [the love of God], which is the bond of perfectness.
Spending quality time listening and talking helps build a strong bond of love between parents and children. We can be the ones they turn to by making talk time with our children a priority. We can stay positive and lighthearted as we encourage them, and we can build the love of God into their hearts. By practicing these principles, we will strengthen our children. Let’s build strong bonds of love with our children, strengthening the next generation of believers by building God’s love into their hearts.