A Godly Mother Plays with Her Children

Loved reading this on this blog today Very good article!

A Godly Mother Plays with Her Children

When was the last time you played with your child? I mean…really enjoyed playing with them?

Perhaps you built the ultimate structure/car with Legos…or maybe you donned a fancy gown and hat in an all-out ‘dress up extravaganza…

No matter what it was…it was an event to be remembered. And, trust me, your children will never forget it! I don’t know how many…countless…requests and remembrances have been stated by my daughters …about times I have played dolls with them.

Ok, so playing with my kids is important, you quip…but this makes a godly mother???

Yes. And, here is why…

1. It is an opportunity to teach them godly virtues, attitudes, actions, and Bible verses while you play. If you are participating in imaginative play, this is very easy to incorporate! However, even if you are crafting or building models, this time with your child, gives opportunity to have them open up about life. It also gives you opportunity to ask questions that leads to this….

So, in this way, playing with your children, gives you opportunities to pass along your faith (training your child in godliness) to your child as illustrated in 2 Timothy 1:5,

”when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.”

2. When you play with your children, this speaks love to them. In so doing, you become more than simply a teacher and a disciplinarian. You show love in ‘their language’ by caring for what they care for. (I am in no way suggesting that you become ‘their peer’. By all means, you NEED to be the authority in their lives!) But, as we are commanded in Ephesians 6:4,

“And you, fathers, (and mothers), do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

Certainly, this refers to not just ‘punishing’, but instead disciplining and training in godliness. BUT, when we simply spend all of our time disciplining and training our children, and do not take the time to care about their interests, are we not provoking our children?

3. It shows your child that you love them.

Think about it. When someone takes the time to ask you about your interests, or spends time with you participating in one of your interests, doesn’t it show you that they care about you?

For your child, these interests may include playing ‘house’, playing ‘dress up’, building blocks, playing ‘cars’, playing with action figures, playing with dolls, playing in the sandbox, playing basketball, playing with bubbles, or simply playing ‘knock down the tower and giggle about it afterward’.

Whatever you chose, it tells your child that you love them…

In today’s society, parents often go to extremes to try to show to their children that they love them. They buy the latest expensive gift…or send them to the fanciest camp. They buy them tickets or plan elaborate birthday parties at the latest ‘hangout’. But, honestly…all their children really want…is time with them. And, that, my dear sisters…is NOT something that money can buy.

The final reason you should play with your children is one that I am becoming increasingly aware of with each day that passes….that time is short…and my babies are not babies anymore. My 13 year old twins who once played ‘to infinity and beyond’ have sadly packed those treasured Buzz Lightyears away in a box. My 9 year old and my 11 year old don’t dress up in fancy hats and gloves and dresses anymore…and we rarely ‘play house’. I realize that the time I have left with my children in my house is less than the time I have already had…

So, I, for one, am going to take the time to play dolls with my girls while they are still wanting to play dolls…I am going to take the time to throw a ball around and pretend that it is the World Series with my boys while they still have those dreams.

I want to share with you a poem of sorts that I read first – before I had kids. It is not scripture, but it has a powerful message and has become one of my favorites. It was written in 1969 by Erma Bombeck.

WET OATMEAL KISSES

A young mother writes: “I know you’ve written before about the empty-nest syndrome — that lonely period after the children are grown and gone. Right now, I’m up to my eyeballs in laundry and muddy boots. The baby is teething; the boys are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat without him, and I fell off my diet. Lay it on me again, will you.”

OK. One of these days you’ll explode and shout to the kids, “Why don’t you grow up and act your age?”
…and they will.

OR:

“You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do. And don’t slam the door!”
…and they don’t.

You’ll straighten up the boys’ bedroom neat and tidy — bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and smooth, toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you’ll say out loud, “Now I want it to stay this way.”
…and it will.

You’ll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn’t been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you’ll say, “Now, there’s a meal for company.”
…and you’ll eat it alone.

You’ll say: “I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do your hear?”
…and you’ll have it.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti.
No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms.
No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps.
No more clothespins under the sofa.
No more playpens to arrange a room around.
No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent
No more sand on the sheets or Popeye movies in the bathrooms.
No more iron-on-patches, wet, knotted shoestrings, tight boots, or rubber bands for ponytails.
Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it.
No baby sitter for New Year’s Eve.
Washing only once a week.
Seeing a steak that isn’t ground.
Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.
No PTA meetings.
No car pools.
No blaring radios.
No one washing her hair at 11 o’clock at night.
Having your own roll of Scotch tape.