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It’s time to rejoice but it may also be a good time of year to do a little contemplative homework. 

The first message though, is an appeal for parents and guardians to take care of your children. We don’t mean the act of showering them with gifts and non-disciplinary actions, but rather, to just show them that you love them and care for their well-being. 

Children will soon enough forget who gave them what toy, but they will never forget the adult who treated them kindly and with respect, consistently. That’s what counts in their world. 

Last week, UNICEF delivered their annual report on poverty and, in particular, child poverty. 

There are 16 million children now living at risk. That means that one in every eight, are hurting in one form or another. They won’t have the opportunity to grow old. 

These are babies who are born and raised in stress-filled situations who will grow up under these conditions. They will never experience clean water and they will be malnourished. In other words, they will be nurtured in negativity and yes, hatred. 

They will be forced to become child soldiers, like the 16,000 or more already toting guns before they turn into teenagers in Yemen. They will be raped in Nigeria by terrorists like the Boko Haram. They will be forced into intolerable conditions and lifestyles in Syria and Iraq by ISIS. What goes on in those two countries has been well documented, but they are not alone. 

Well meaning First World nations will continue to believe in political solutions, but for these youngsters who don’t know happiness, democracy is not important. They will never really be exposed to it. If you are being starved and raped and forced into war in a drug-induced state of mind as an orphan, you don’t know democracy. You only know what is immediately in front of you and what you’ll have to do that day, that hour, to stay alive. The key word is not democracy, it is survival, and the odds are not in their favour. 

The only lessons they will be learning will be lessons of hate, lessons connected to revenge. It’s a negative world for them. 

Perhaps this is the proper time of year to allow your thoughts to spread out to include those millions of innocent babies, some of whom will grow up ill-educated and knowing only desperation, hunger and hatred. 

So, love and take care of your children. Instill in them all the positive lessons we have learned to cherish. They will be the first line of defense when the time comes for them to try and spread love and respect to those who know nothing about those values that we hold so dear. 

Yes, perhaps it is a good time of year to consider the less fortunate and trust that some day, someone will be able to deliver a message of hope … messages like the ones that are so engrained in us during this particular time of year. 

Let’s not be depressed about the condition of these helpless babies, let’s deliver to them a message of hope and love, not hunger, desperation, fear and hate.