What You Can Do to Make a Child Feel Loved

I thought having a child was the ultimate experience in loving someone. Nothing could compare. But when my youngest daughter became pregnant, I found myself falling in love with a little boy before he even entered the world. Now that he’s here and I can hold him in my arms, my heart melts at every smile and yawn. I want so much for him, and I’m determined to always be a loving presence in his life.  

What a joy it is to watch my daughter care for him. She’s begun a new phase of her life, understanding now what that “kind of love” involves. I’m blessed as not only my grandson’s family—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins—shower him with affection, but also his parents’ many friends. This little boy will never lack love …

But there are children—many children—starving for attention.

My friend Rick Daviscourt lives part time in the States with his wife and part time in Peru where he oversees his ministry Restoring Hope International (under the business name Restoring Children International). Rick founded the organization to rescue at-risk female children. Currently they run three homes for girls taken out of poverty and off the streets where they were surviving in any way imaginable. The girls come to them emotionally and physically abused. Not necessarily orphans, these children have been abandoned by parents who don’t have the means to take care of them—or just don’t care.

From the website: “Our heart and mission is to set an example of love and hope for the family in a practical manner by sheltering, educating, and restoring lives.”

Rick gives his life to see that these girls are cared for in the best way possible. He believes this is what God has called him to do. But what about the rest of us? It’s not possible, or even the right thing, for all of us to leave our families and jobs to create ministries in other countries …

So, what can we do?

There are organizations, like Rick’s, that depend on financial support. World Vision and Compassion are two that serve the needs of children in other countries and right here in the United States.

Take a look around your neighborhood, church, and community. Are there children who could use a friend or a surrogate grandparent? With parents’ permission, perhaps you could invite a boy or girl to your home to bake cookies, work on art projects, read books, or play games. Single parents can’t do it all on their own. Children with both parents may also be neglected or treated unkindly in their homes.

Be sensitive to your gut telling you a child may be lonely or in need of help or mentoring.

An hour a week—even a regular smile or encouraging word—could make a huge difference in another person’s life.

What can you do to make a child feel loved?

Dawn