What Every Baby Should Know
By the time this day of December 29, 1979 ends, I will know the gender, weight, and looks of our third Bly baby. Then, the whole exciting process of discovery starts for us. When will the baby smile? And when should the baby roll over, sit up, or crawl? When should baby start talking and walking? All these milestones will become very important as life centers around the newest member of our family. But also a crucial part of my role as the father kicks in. The training begins. Here’s some vital truths I believe every baby, including mine, should in time understand.
Daddy Loves Them
Of course, Mommy loves them too. But they’re not going to be born with that knowledge. They must experience love at one week, one month, at one year or ten, twenty, thirty years. Love must be shown.
They learn Daddy’s love doesn’t ever give up. Nothing they do in life will destroy that love based on my giving, not on their deserving. A baby should learn by loving actions and words that Daddy loves them. And when they learn that it will be very easy for them to believe their Heavenly Father loves them even more.
Every Baby Should Have a Family
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18)
Father and mother, brothers and sisters, and Grandma and Grandpa compose a God-given family. Not by accident did humans decide they didn’t like being alone. God designed a people unit for nurturing. He brought families together because He has a lot of lessons to teach. In that way, we all homeschool. In a family, there should be give and take. We experience how to love other people better than any other way. Not only will a baby learn to share, they should also grasp as they mature how to give and receive forgiveness. A family provides the schoolroom.
We should do everything we can to make this God-given structure strong by instilling a loving environment for each person in the family. Every baby ought to know about God’s design, purpose, and plan through living in a family specially made for them.
Every Baby Should Learn to Obey Parents
Learning obedience produces joy in the one who wants to protect them, but also joy for God because they can find the best fulfilling life in following His ways. These lessons must be learned. If taught when young, they can avoid some hard falls. That’s why God gave us His Word. He wanted us to have satisfying, complete lives that bring joy. He told us the secrets. Obedience means we please Him and He gives us the desires of our hearts.
Honesty Still the Best Policy
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And he called a child to himself and stood him in their midst, and he said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself like this child shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven'” (Matthew 18)
Fierce honesty means never telling lies. That goes along with obedience. We parents may have to follow up with the threat of punishment. My Daddy used to say, “Do what you’re told or you’re going to get a whipping.” Sometimes we warn little ones to be honest in order to stay out of trouble. But these virtues produce positives too.
When someone’s dishonest, they have a goal in mind. They want to achieve something. “I want the highest grade in class,” so they cheat. But why did they want to be best? So others would think they possessed all that information. And what does cheating do? They know inside they didn’t know the answers. And they weren’t the best. The very goal they strived for, they couldn’t achieve. I want my baby to know from the very beginning that honesty builds strong relationships and produces the best results in all of life. Teach children to be as good as their word from a very young age.
The World Can Be Scary
“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come” (Matthew 18)
As Christian parents, we like to isolate our children. We want to protect them. We should, of course, to some extent, so they’ll have that proper base to start life on. But we can’t protect them forever. They have to learn sometime that most of the world is harsh and cruel. Most of the world lives outside relationship with God. That means people in the world ae alone, frightened, insensitive, insecure, and some are insane. That’s the way the world is. If we try to protect them too long—never let them fail, never let them struggle, never let them have trials until they’re at a mature age—suddenly they’re thrown into a world of tribulation. And they don’t know how to respond. In the world there is tribulation for darkness is always opposed to light.
Jesus Helps Little Ones
“And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me” (Matthew 18)
We’re not going to take all the troubles away. Babies as they grow will face whatever happens. Crazy ideas seep through. But Jesus wins. He already defeated the cross and the tomb. Now, there’s victory for us and our children in the world’s woes.
Babies should know He will never leave us. Anyplace, any jam, no matter how much trouble we get in, He will be there. He’s willing and able to help. And our little ones need to learn as soon as they can understand “in the world there’s tribulation, but be of good cheer. Jesus overcame the world.”
Little Ones Can Realize Regular Life is Like School
From the earliest stage of comprehension, such as the death of a pet or a grandparent, they start to perceive that life here is short and terminal. They also should know God made it that way on purpose. It’s His plan.
Yes, we might rebel and insist that we ought to live forever. And we do. But life here provides the training ground, a prep school for eternity. God gave us a few earth years to get us ready for heaven. So, he stuck us in a family to help us learn how to love each other. Figure out how to forgive. See if we can choose Him and follow His Son, Jesus. If we can, we win that forever prize.
Babies Should Learn About Prayer
There can’t be too much prayer, by little ones or old saints. I have never met anybody that prayed too much. Neither young or old or anyone. Little ones need to know God cares about everything, every tiny concern in their minds. Any time they want to talk to Him and even ask Him things, they should.
Now, I’m wise enough to know we cannot force our children to be Christians. If we could, I would certainly lead the pack. But I can’t. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit and their own choices. They have to come to the place of confessing of making friends and followers of Him on their own.
But I can prepare the environment. I can work up the fallow ground, get the soil ready for good seed to be planted. With our baby due any minute now, I realize in a fresh new way I need to do that. I can teach that little one a lot of things. But I will have to not only say it in words but show it in my life.
Stephen Bly
December 30, 1979 — the birthdate of Stephen’s youngest son, Aaron Timothy Bly
Baby Image by Violet Lim from Pixabay
Children Praying & Balloons Image by Sarah Teoh from Pixabay
Child Being Disciplined Image by chiplanay from Pixabay
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“Every Baby Ought to Know” audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.
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