Yesterday evening we had another goodbye dinner at a restaurant for Brazilian friends moving to Florida. My friends Diego and Camila joined us along with their two year old son Joachim. Joachim loves to explore and run off to see things. He also has a full head of curly hair. At two different tables near us there were little girls, toddlers, who were trying to get Joachim’s attention, but he was more interested in what he was seeing in the restaurant.

Photo by Noel Raffoux on Pexels.com

At one point during the dinner, it was obvious Joachim wanted to run off again, so I called him by name with a firm voice giving him a firm look and pointed to his chair basically telling him the sit down. He obeyed much to my surprise. Each time he had the thought of running off, he looked at me and I would shake my head no and point to his seat. I actually had his attention.

At one point he coughed a bit, so I asked if he was okay in Portuguese with a concerned look on my face, He gave me a thumbs up. At the end of the evening, he came up to me for a hug. I hugged him telling him Jesus loves him in Portuguese.

As I thought about the evening, I thought about how God gives us boundaries for our protection like I was trying to do for Joachim. God is always concerned about our well being. The reason for what he teaches in the Bible is not to cause us to not have fun, it is for our protection.

I also thought about how God cares about us and wants to embrace us like I did with Joachim.

Without knowing it, the little two year old boy taught me about God through our interaction.

Thank you for reading. God Bless.

20 responses to “Lessons Learned from Interacting with A 2 Year Old”

  1. I was once the little guy who couldn’t stay in his seat. Children need positive affirmations and realistic boundaries. You provided your young friend with both. Question: how young should a kid start drinking coffee? Not two years old, of course. But I see kindergartners every day get out of the car sipping on a Starbuck’s Frappuccino. 😳

    1. I think kids should wait to start coffee when they are perhaps teens. A Frappuccino for a Kindergartner oh my- too much sugar to start the day.

      1. I agree, brother! Too much sugar for a five year old is not good.

      2. I have often wondered if the issue of ADHD in kids is more diet related and if kiddos in America started their mornings like kids in Northern Europe with an emphasis on protein not sugary cereal if there would be a decrease in the need for meds

  2. Children can teach us 🙂

  3. …it’s no wonder Christ admonishes us to be like little children.

  4. What a delightful illustration of love and boundaries for a 2 year old, that teaches us much!

    1. We can learn even from two year olds 🙂

  5. So sweet! You touch so many lives, and it is inspiring!

    1. Thank you little sister. How are you today?

      1. I’m well, thanks. I had placement assessments for our new ESL students this morning for this upcoming year. I feel so bad for them because they are so nervous, so I try to help them relax and assure them we just want them to have a great year! It made me think of you! 😊

      2. Those always make ESL students nervous.

  6. Kids are so innocent and pure. such a blessing. If we teach them well when they’re young they’ll learn and grow up to be great adults.

  7. Great lessons learned in such a sweet way!

  8. Great lesson from a child. He is very obedient

    1. He is obedient sometimes 🙂

Leave a reply to jesusluvsall Cancel reply

Trending