Each Child is Precious

I can hear my dad snickering a bit reading the title. My grandmother, who was a beautiful and amazing woman, loved the words "precious" and "special" and applied them to everything. She used them so much that we would smirk just a little when she would say them because it came to be just a funny thing to us.

"Precious" is a word that has been on my mind for the last few days. In the Deseret News recently there was a story about how young teenagers are posting videos of themselves on Youtube and asking viewers to rate their attractiveness. Rather than getting reassuring messages in response, most these videos seem to invite the nastier element of the internet population to post hateful, vicious messages. It struck me as tragic that, first of all, teenagers with tender egos are seeking affirmation from total strangers, and second of all, strangers are responding in such horrific ways. How did it come to this? I'm not sure I have an answer to the why, but on another friend's Facebook page this morning I found a positive antidote recommended by a man who I regard as a prophet of God:

"Parents, remember that now is your opportunity. You may feel yourself harassed as you struggle through the days with children, but you are living the happiest and the most golden years of your life. As you tuck them into their beds at night, please be kind to them. Let them hear a kind voice amid all the angry, vile voices that they will hear throughout their life. Let there be an anchor to which these little ones can turn when all else fails. The Lord help you so to do." -- Harold B. Lee

One of the messages that so resonated with me when I read Kathryn Stockett's The Help was the one Aibileen shared often with Baby Girl, the toddler she cared for. She repeated, over and over, to the child, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important," hoping to inoculate her against an indifferent mother.

I hope my children are hearing that message from me, both blatantly and subtly. I don't want them turning to strangers on the internet or so-called friends who don't have their best interests at heart to find their self-worth. I hope my piano students hear from me they are worthwhile. I hope the children I work with in Primary, my church's auxiliary for children, hear from me often enough that God loves them each, individually. They are truly precious in His (and our) sight. And while this doesn't mean I never correct my children or avoid disciplining them (that doesn't demonstrate love), I hope they know they are valued and loved, by more than just me.

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

Our children can't hear that often enough.