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For the sake of emphasis, I categorized CARE as the initial stages of parenting—from pre-natal to baby stage.

Being a parent is paradoxical. We all start from scratch. Clueless. Yet, somehow we want to raise good, if not, great children (As husband and wife, we wanted to parent well). Motive is primary. The desire to do good, inevitably, is rewarded.

Fortunately for me, my desire and resolve to know how got me to devour all the books I could get my hands on that relate to pregnancy; childbirth; the care, nurturing, and discipline of children; and seek out seminars on parenting.

Strangely, even secular books stated that a name had significance. A name connotes possession, identity, nature or what we may dub as purpose. We named our first son, Johanan, which means God is gracious. We desired a boy and we were granted one. Our second, we named Jemimah. A name lifted from the book of Job. She was the eldest daughter of Job after his restoration; and in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters.¹  Literally, Jemimah means little dove which is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

Interestingly, what triggered and excited me to explore and do further research was a book entitled, “How to Raise Smarter Children” (I lent the precious book and don’t recall to whom I lent it; sorry, I forget the author and seems it is no longer in circulation). The gist, a baby is not fully developed; its nerve endings need further growth through stimulation.

Scientifically, these nerve endings are called synapses. In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. Simply, the communication pathways that connect body to brain. Each of our senses—auditory, nasal, gustatory, visual, and tactile—have specific corresponding intelligence (More particulars on my succeeding blogs). Thus, explains the different manifestation of strengths and weaknesses.

The care of a baby starts from the womb. A mother’s proper nutrition and health is essential. We agree that breast milk is best for your baby. The first of the senses to develop is the sense of hearing. An 18-weeks-old fetus can hear²; thus, rhythmic, calm, instrumental music has benefits.

Each stimuli that is introduced consistently promotes the development of such synapses that connect to the brain; e.g., hearing influences a child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development; scent and taste has a direct bearing on memory; vision impacts learning; touch fashions a child’s confidence and sense of self (Later, in sports and dance, athletes and performers understand muscle memory).

These findings stem our modern day terminology for attachment parenting.³

Among many, the underlying principle that we adhered to was a verse found in Psalm 127:3-5, it reads, Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Children are precious! The promise of blessing is partial, progressive, and conditional. Partial for there is much to learn as parents; progressive for turns, bumps, and surprises are unending; conditional for it requires a decision and a commitment, a shifting of priorities, a renewal of mind sets, investment of time, copious amount of faith, and intentional, relentless effort. As our children are now young adults, we see the fruit of our labor; and in hindsight, we are thankful that we believed and obeyed the biblical principles. Grateful for the leaders, mentors, friends that walked with us.

And a Happy Father’s Day!