Protect the Children

On a more serious note:

This month as I have been sharing Quick & Easy Charity Quilt ideas I have thought about the children in the foster care system our guild will be donating the quilts to.  As I thought of them, a talk by Dallin H. Oaks, a church leader, has been on my mind.  He spoke about the need for adults to watch over and protect children.  I would like to share a few quotes from his talk that stood out to me:

We can all remember our feelings when a little child cried out and reached up to us for help. A loving Heavenly Father gives us those feelings to impel us to help His children. Please recall those feelings as I speak about our responsibility to protect and act for the well-being of children...

Childhood abuses or neglect of children that occur after birth are more publicly visible. Worldwide, almost eight million children die before their fifth birthday, mostly from diseases both treatable and preventable.  And the World Health Organization reports that one in four children have stunted growth, mentally and physically, because of inadequate nutrition...

Even in rich nations little children and youth are impaired by neglect. Children growing up in poverty have inferior health care and inadequate educational opportunities. They are also exposed to dangerous environments in their physical and cultural surroundings and even from the neglect of their parents. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recently shared the experience of an LDS police officer. In an investigation he found five young children huddled together and trying to sleep without bedding on a filthy floor in a dwelling where their mother and others were drinking and partying. The apartment had no food to relieve their hunger. After tucking the children into a makeshift bed, the officer knelt and prayed for their protection. As he walked toward the door, one of them, about six, pursued him, grabbed him by the hand, and pleaded, “Will you please adopt me?”...

When we consider the dangers from which children should be protected, we should also include psychological abuse. Parents or other caregivers or teachers or peers who demean, bully, or humiliate children or youth can inflict harm more permanent than physical injury. Making a child or youth feel worthless, unloved, or unwanted can inflict serious and long-lasting injury on his or her emotional well-being and development.  Young people struggling with any exceptional condition, including same-gender attraction, are particularly vulnerable and need loving understanding—not bullying or ostracism.  With the help of the Lord, we can repent and change and be more loving and helpful to children—our own and those around us.

Re-reading his talk today made me more determined to be kinder and more loving to my own children and to try to look for ways to love and support the children I come in contact with.  

I donate to charitable organizations and make quilts to donate, but somehow it seems like so little when faced with all the challenges in the world.  So will you help too?  Maybe your sphere of influence reaches farther than mine and you can do more.  Maybe with more people looking for opportunities to help more can be done to love and protect children around the world.  Children have no real control over their circumstances - it is up to us to help.

Thanks for letting me share.