The Heart is Where We Feel Close
As parents, we long to connect with our children in meaningful ways; connections often provide teaching opportunities. When children are young, those special moments happen daily. Reading a book to your four-year-old, he leans on your arm, and you cherish the time of closeness. Correcting your six-year-old, he cries a repentant cry and wants a hug. Tears come to your eyes, too, because you know you’ve connected with his heart. Moments of heart connection also happen with older children. A fourteen-year-old gets a positive school report, giving her dad an opportunity to affirm her hard work. Her smile confirms he made the heart connection he’d hoped for.
The closeness you and your children feel is a function of the heart. The early disciples “were one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32) a statement of their unity. The heart is where we build the close relationships that help us to teach our kids with a lasting impact. Closeness allows us to work with our children, rather than against them, as they develop the valuable character qualities to succeed in life.
Be on the lookout for opportunities to connect with your kids on a heart level; affirm their successes and sympathize with their losses. The relationships you build now are an essential foundation for the future. Moments of closeness may provide opportunities for significant conversations and heart connection.
Heart connection is a tip from the book Parenting is Heart Work by Turansky and Miller. This book would make a great small group for Fall meeting bi-monthly with child care provided. Sign up on the blue card in your bulletins on Sunday.
By Shelley Halverson