Children Matter: Male and Female

Still reading Children Matter. More food for thought!

They talk about community relationships being even more important than programs when it comes to spiritual formation, particularly for children.

This was nicely said: "Based on a legitimate concern for protecting children from sexual abuse, some churches do not allow men to work with young children. But children need the experience of learning with and from men, worshiping with them, and knowing that they love Jesus. Especially little boys need to know that real men love and serve God . . . Our policies must protect children from abuse while releasing both men and women to love, teach, and nurture children." [CM p. 145] Women can do serious harm to children, too.

Freeing both men and women, old and young to love, teach and nurture children is particularly important as nuclear families are less in touch with extended family and as more and more children grow up in single family homes. Men and women capable of developing emotionally healthy relationships with children bring different things to children. The things that men and women bring to family sometimes seem to conflict especially when kids are little, but kids need both hard edges and soft hearts.

Ok. That's a bit stereotypical. Take the ways you are very different from someone of another gender in the way you interact with your child and just understand that kids need a measure of both, the mixture and size of the measure depends on the needs of the child. God made us male and female, after all. And we're not the same. Boys and girls, men and women need each other!