A Babywise Kid with A Good Heart

Some people claim that a child who was raised with Babywise principles will grow up to be compassionless. This post shares why that is false.

My Kaitlyn is a sweet heart with a good heart. She is amazingly maternal. She offers guests drinks and invites them in to sit down. She makes sure everyone has everything they need.

The other day her Daddy sat on the couch and closed his eyes and she asked him if he wanted a pillow. She is just always watching out for and taking care of people.

This past weekend, we went to a family reunion. We were able to see my ailing Grandmother. She is in her mid-80s and relatively recently suffered a couple of strokes. She also has Parkinson’s disease.

Now, for many (I would venture most) people, older people who are ailing like she is makes them uncomfortable. It was hard for me to see her like this. In my mind, she is still my spunky, even feisty at times, Grandmother who thinks I am the most amazing person on Earth.

Somehow she makes everyone feel like that–even though she has about 40 grandchildren (most of whom are married) and 70ish great-grandchildren…even the grandchildren-in-law think they are her favorite.

That is my Grandmother. Grandma’s body is going, but her mind is as sharp as ever, which I am sure is hard for her.

There were many little children running around (as you might imagine). They were all wrapped up in their imaginary worlds and having fun together.

McKenna, of course, is too young to see differences in people and said hi to Grandma and gave her kisses.

My sweet little Kaitlyn walked up to Grandma. She was visibly nervous, but she understood this was as a moment to show love and compassion even though no one told her to.

She plastered a smile on her face and said hi to Grandma. She stood smiling and nodding as Grandma talked to her. After a few minutes, she asked me if she could go now, and I told her yes.

It made me so happy that she was so sweet and so intuitive to the needs of another person.

The next day Grandma was sitting talking to one of my cousins. She told my cousin that the little kids were all scared of her and wouldn’t come by her.

Kaitlyn must have over heard that comment. She stopped playing and walked over to Grandma. She was not scared this time. She said hello and gave Grandma a hug. It brought tears to my eyes then and does now as I think about it.

Babywise kid with a good heart

Babywise Child Full of Compassion

There are nay-sayers out there who claim if you do Babywise with your baby, your baby will grow up to be a compassionless toddler/child. I just wanted to share this story with you to illustrate that the efforts you put into raising your baby will not produce a disconnected toddler, preschooler, or child.

My Kaitlyn embodies compassion.

Kaitlyn has been a Babywise baby since the day she was born.

Now, my belief is that children come to Earth with personalities of their own. I believe Kaitlyn is someone with lots of compassion within her naturally.

We also do a lot more than -wise principles. The center of what we do is focusing on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We teach her and show her how to love. So I am not claiming that -wise principles will create this much compassion in every child.

While Brayden was kind and smiled and allowed hugs, he was not exuding the love and compassion Kaitlyn was. He was hugged and he was off running with the herd of children.

But I do think it will help amplify the compassion your child has and help you to be able to worry about teaching things like compassion.

I think that Kaitlyn’s natural personality along with everything else we have taught her, including -wise principles implemented, have helped her develop into this little girl full of love and compassion.

They have definitely not turned her into a child without warmth and love for others. She was the star of the reunion.

I had an Aunt with seven of her own children who all are married and all but two have children of their own who told me she wanted to take Kaitlyn home with her. She has plenty of Grandchildren of her own to dote over and still recognized how incredible Kaitlyn is.

What a great example this little girl was to all of us, and what joy she brought to my Grandma.

PS–Please do not read this and walk away feeling like you have failed somehow if your three year old hasn’t acted like this.

She has her moments. She has her tantrums. She has her fits. She has her lack of desire to share toys with younger children (not older for some reason). She is not perfect.

This was one of those pay off moments you get every so often in parenthood that tells you you are on the right path and shows you that your little ball of emotions is growing into a great person.

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4 thoughts on “A Babywise Kid with A Good Heart”

  1. what a WONDERFUL story and such a blessing to you to witness I'm sure! It's nice to get to share the precious moments of our kids lives and the payoff parenting moments like this one 🙂

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  2. Aww, what a true sweetheart! She'll be such a blessing to everyone around her as she grows up. I definitely think the -wise principles can help to encourage those good natural character traits and channel the not-so-good ones into something more positive.

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  3. So amazing and wonderful to read. I think you hit the nail right on the head when you said that the -wise teachings can free you to worry about important character issues like teaching compassion. (I might be misreading the post a little bit, but the -wise series has given me that structure plus reminded me of the ultimate goals.) If I feel I have a structure and I'm not living in chaos, I can work toward the big goals that I have for my children.

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  4. It was one of those moments you hold on to and pull up when the child starts acting all crazy 🙂 You got it right on Kristy, that is what I meant 🙂

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