Children will listen. Children will learn and nowhere is this more true than when it comes to marriage. Children will watch and hear if Dad treats their Mom with love gentleness and respect. They will listen and learn from the way Mom treats her husband – whether it is one of love and respect. They will also listen and watch and learn if the opposite its true.
The other day in the car Mick and I were listening to Children Will Listen from Into the Woods, which is Mick’s favorite musical, and I couldn’t help thinking how true those words were. It warns, ‘Careful the things you say. Children will listen.’
They will listen not only to the words but the manner and tine in which they are said and they will imitate. Children are great imitators. Have you ever heard your own words and tone coming out of your child’s mouth? It can be a good thing or it can be quite devastating. We never realize how bad we sound will we hear those same words and tone coming from our child’s mouth.
Children look to their parents for guidance in the way to live and the way to treat others. What sort of example are you and I setting to children and grandchildren? What are we teaching them about marriage and relationships? It’s a sobering thought isn’t it? Often the things that stay with us for years and years even after we have grown are the words, attitudes and examples shown in the home and family situation.
There’s a saying that reminds us if a child lives with love, kindness and praise, he learns how to love, how to be kind, how to give praise. The opposite its also true. The way we respond to our spouse today is having far reaching effects on the next generation because children will listen, children will learn. Children look to us for which way to turn. Let’s teach them ways of gentleness, kindness love, respect and encouragement.
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