It Takes a Village

It has been said that “It takes a village to raise a child”, I was thinking about this on my way to the dedication/baptism of a friends 2 month old baby girl. I considered the role that we play in the lives of children other than our own. How difficult it is to raise children in this world and how important it is to have people close to us who not only love our children but also stand along side us when we make the tough decisions and help us when things go wrong. That same weekend our godson turned one year old and I was remembering his dedication ceremony when we stood alongside his parents and promised to help them raise him to fear the Lord and be a constant presence in his life.

Our children have a wonderful godmother, who although she has no children of her own, has loved mine since they were born and promised to take them and raise them in the event that anything should happen to my husband and me. What a tremendous relief to know that our children will be cared for after we are gone. Every parent worries that they will die before their little one’s are old enough to manage alone, who will watch over them at the park? Make sure that they have healthy eating habits? Help them with their homework? Teach them about dating and saving for their first car? What if we don’t have enough time to help them grow into confident adults? Will they have successful relationships and find the right career?

The truth is, we have no control of how long we will be with our children, we therefore have to make use of the time we have. Spend time with them and pour our experience and knowledge into them in order to give them all the information they might need to make those decisions later in life. It is also very important to surround our children with good adult role models to help pick up where we leave off. If it does in fact take a village to raise our children, we need to ensure that they have access to lots of reliable help. That means, friends, family, church, neighbours whoever is in your life that love your children and desire the best for them. It’s the only way to ensure that they are well cared for later on.