Unconditional Acceptance
Scripture
Mark 10:15
“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
From the book, The Dad Blessing, we learn the power of unconditional acceptance for your child. Notice one word in Mark 10:15, the word receive. Receive literally means to accept. Jesus received these children. He accepted them. It didn’t matter what they looked like, whose family they came from, or what they had or didn’t have. He accepted them.Your child needs to know that you accept him or her. That’s not to say you accept what they do, or when they are adults that you accept their lifestyle. However, you do accept them as your child. “You don’t have to do anything else to have my approval of you as my son or daughter. You are mine, no matter what you ever do. I will love you and be there for you.”You express their worth, their value to you. Many children grow up with the feeling that nothing they do will ever measure up. Enough is never enough. They spend their lives trying to be accepted, trying to gain someone’s approval. It can be a lonely, painful, dangerous journey, leading them to all kinds of harmful dead ends.
5 Ways to Accept Your Child
- Communicate with your words, actions, and attitudes that you accept your child.
- Work hard at never making your child feel that their good enough is not enough.
- Remember there is a difference in accepting your child and accepting their wrong behavior. You can handle both.
- Your blessing of your child should include your statement of acceptance of them as a person.
- Tell your child daily, “I love you,” and “I am proud of you.”