So while it is important to stimulate children’s minds, it is even more important to instill love into their hearts.

There is a built-in starter for this at birth. It is called bonding. The mother holds, cuddles, strokes, and talks cooingly to her baby. Baby, in turn, looks intently at its mother. Bonding takes place, maternal instincts are stirred, and baby feels secure. Some authorities believe that “there is a sensitive period in the first few minutes and hours after the infant’s birth which is optimal for infant-parent attachment.”

The father is not to be excluded. If he is present at birth, the father-infant bond will begin. As the weeks and months pass, the influence of his role expands rapidly, as is shown by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, a professional in the field of child development.

“Every child needs a mother and a father,” he says, “and every father can make a difference. For a baby, having an active, involved father is not the same as simply having more mothering.” He cites a report that showed the difference in the ways mothers and fathers handle children. “The mothers tended to be gentle and low-keyed with their babies. Fathers, on the other hand, were more playful, tickling and poking their babies more than the mothers did.”

But fathers give children more than just fun. “Where there is an active father,” he says, “the child grows up to be more successful at school, to have a better sense of humor and to get along better with other kids. He believes more in himself and is better motivated to learn. By the time he is six or seven, the child’s IQ will be higher.”

Jehovah God orders a close teaching relationship between father and son: “These words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart; and you must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7) No beginning generation gap here!