Shavuos is an opportune time to pray on behalf of our children, that they should be healthy, happy, have good character traits, and that they should be strong in Torah. We are always praying for our children (even those little request to G-d before our child steps onto the schoolbus or is found climbing on the ledge count as prayers), but Rosh Chodesh Sivan (the first day of the Jewish month of Sivan) is the best time. This falls on Sunday. Shavuos, which starts this Thursday night until after Shabbat, is also in ideal time to pray for children.
Our sages tell us that when G-d or Hashem wanted to give us the Torah, he insisted that there be guarantors. The Jewish People suggested the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Even though they had long passed away, the fact that we pray every day in their merit shows that people on that spiritual level never really pass away, in a sense). The Jewish people also suggested prophets as guarantors, and even those great men and women who were yet to be born. Hashem was not satisfied until the children were given the role as guarantors. Since our children are responsible for carrying on our tradition, education is an important aspect of Shavuos, and of Jewish life in general, and it is for this reason that we are encouraged to take even the tiniest babies to the synagogue to hear the Ten Commandments.*
On Shavuos, our synagogue is enlivened by the presence of children. Since the weather is warm, many of the children play outside until the Ten Commandments are read, and are then shepherded in by their parents to hear the reading. Small children are often given sweets as “bribes” to keep quiet during the reading. Women and children are usually exempt from going to shul, but the reading of the Ten Commandments on Shavuos is a time when everyone should go to the synagogue and hear the Torah. Since my two and a half year old, who, thank G-d is a very active kid, likes to run around, I will probably manage only to poke my head in to hear the reading (which is about 5 minutes) before chasing after him again outside, but it will be well worth it.
* On a practical note, it is permitted to carry on a holiday, so babies can be taken to the synagogue on the first day of Shavuos this year (Friday). However, the second day falls on Shabbat, and strollers shouldn’t be taken unless you have an Eruv in your community that allows you to carry. Ask your local rabbi for more details.)