Giving Children Hope When Hopelessness Has Devoured the World

How do we look into the eyes of our children and explain the evil of the world? The evil we are supposed to protect them from. In a world that is out to destroy our children, our future… how can we keep their hope alive?

Through the eyes of a child anything is possible. Their world is bright and filled with possibilities. They can dream of being a police officer, a veterinarian, a soldier, a mom. The world seems filled with hope and opportunity. Finding hope and keeping their innocence in a time of great evil, trauma, and unrest seems almost impossible.

Our children are bombarded daily with hate, fear, propaganda, and anger. In the past 2 years, our children’s lives have been flipped upside down where they have been forced to live in a world of face masks, a world of no smiles, no facial expressions, no laughing… a world that took their hugs, their high fives, their recess and replaced it with social distancing. A world filled with civil unrest, violence and angry, scared adults who lash out. Insert Karen.

So where can we find hope? How can we give our children hope when we struggle to find it ourselves?

Hope is an expression of confidence in life. But even in utter hopelessness we can find happiness, rest, comfort and, yes hope.

To do this we must understand children listen to everything we say, and I mean everything. You may think they are not paying attention, that they are busy playing, but they hear everything!!! A very old saying sums it up “little corn has big ears” and boy is that true.

The world is at war with their mind and the enemy is everywhere and in everything. Constantly bombarding them…their cartoons, video games, even their toys are agenda driven.They can’t escape the constant attacks. Schools work to indoctrinate, causing fear and anxiety.

Propaganda and indoctrination in their mind 24/7.

What is a parent to do? How do we give them hope?

Above all, the greatest gift of hope to give our children, is God and His word. For a child to feel hopeful, they must learn to appreciate the things God created and placed on earth for them. To understand and know they are loved not only by family but God as well. We must show them that even during uncertainty and scary times they can still find hope.

We must help our children turn hope into resilience and show our children that God is in everything, and our hope is in him. It is vital in today’s world to talk to our children about what they are seeing, hearing and feeling. We must teach them that life is challenging, unfair at times and can feel scary. Hard times will come, and we will have to face them. We must teach our children to look for hope in different ways. Teaching them that God will use the bad for good.

Here are a few ideas for helping children with hope.

Teach children to find hope in helping others. To give to others.Let your children help a neighbor with yard work or take care of a pet. Giving them a responsibility allows them to feel helpful and in control.

We can also teach our children to find hope in nature. Spend the day hiking and exploring the magnificent creations around you.Stop and listen to the birds singing, the trees talking in the wind, observing wild animals in their habitat. Respecting nature can teach children that they are needed and helping preserve nature is hope for a better tomorrow. It will allow your children to feel part of something bigger than themselves.

Just doing little things can help a child process stress and fear. Making home a safe haven from the world. Just spending time together as a family, reading a book together, make dinner, plant a garden, camp in the backyard and watch the clouds. Most importantly love them, hug them, spend time just listening to them.

Teaching our children to become resilient in hardship is giving them hope. It teaches them that even during uncertainty that we can’t give up, that we must keep shining our light, and that God will never leave us. For in God is our hope.

Our children need hope… that is for sure. We, adults, sometimes forget why we keep fighting. We fight because God gave us the greatest hope of all. That is the gift of children, all children are the promise of tomorrow, the hope that transcends time. They are the hope that keeps us fighting against hate, fighting for freedom and fighting for them.

Our hopes are the strands that run through our life. A Christian’s hope isn’t an escape or wishful thinking, as C.S. Lewis says, but something that a Christian is meant to do. We have a hope in eternal life, which means that we can attack today with a renewed vigor and strength.

Proverbs 23:18 – There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.