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... From the Goodnews archives, March/April 2004

THE OTHER HALF the other half   The priest, Fr Tony, who celebrated Mass on the feast of the Annunciation this year said something, which made me think. (I hasten to add that this is NOT unusual!) He said that when Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, and John leapt in his mother's womb to greet her, it was a time of "bridging" between the old and new covenant. But it was also an acknowledgement that the new was built on the foundation of the old. And as he talked about "building on the foundations of our faith", he talked about our children and how they need to have examples in their lives to understand about God. After all, the first teachers are in the home. And I started thinking of how, these days, children are rushing to grow up. There is so much pressure on them to leave childhood behind. For example, I cannot believe that it has been suggested that 16yr olds should be given the vote. When I was growing up two favourite phrases of my mother were - "Let children be children." and "Don't worry about that; you'll have to do it soon enough." Childhood should be a time of playing, learning, exploring, having dreams and getting things wrong. Ideally a time when they feel secure enough in love to make mistakes. There is so much pressure on them these days - from fashion, media and even us, their parents. Yes. we want them to be responsible and sensible but we should not expect them to get everything right - after all, we don't! They really do learn from what they see and hear - I've been totally embarrassed by my children this holiday as they've recounted my "codes of behaviour" with much laughter - but they've all remembered them and find it quite hard to act against them. I'm sure that if we could provide better childhoods we would produce better adults, so how about that for a resolution this year? "I promise to try and love my children unconditionally - to encourage them to explore their interests and to give them time to express their opinions, even if they're wrong! I will try to produce a safe and loving environment for them to be themselves - to fulfil the potential within each of them." Please help me, God! Sue Whitehead << Top   Home >>