How Do Guardian Angels Care for Children?

Guardian Angels Caring for Kids

Hispanic girl climbing tree

Jamie Grill / Getty Images

Children need help from guardian angels even more than adults do in this fallen world, since kids haven't yet learned as much as adults about how to try to protect themselves from danger. So many people believe that God blesses children with extra care from guardian angels. Here's how guardian angels may be at work right now, watching over your children and all other kids in the world:

Real, Invisible Friends

Children enjoy imagining invisible friends when they're playing. But they actually do have invisible friends in the form of real guardian angels, believers say. In fact, it's common for children to matter-of-factly report seeing guardian angels and to distinguish such real encounters from their make-believe world, while still expressing a sense of wonder about their experiences.

In her book The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass, Mary DeTurris Poust writes: "Children can easily identify with and cling to the idea of a guardian angel. After all, children are used to inventing imaginary friends, so how wonderful is it when they learn that they have a real but unseen friend with them all the time, a being whose job it is to look out for them?"

Indeed, every child is constantly under the watchful care of guardian angels, Jesus Christ implies when he tells his disciples about children in Matthew 18:10 of the Bible: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."

A Natural Connection

The natural openness to faith that children have seems to make it easier for them than adults to recognize the presence of guardian angels. Guardian angels and children share a natural connection, say believers, that makes children especially sensitive to recognizing guardian angels.

"My children spoke of and interacted constantly with their guardian angels without ever referencing or requiring a name," writes Christina A. Pierson in her book A Knowing: Living with Psychic Children. "This seems to be a fairly common phenomenon as it is the adults that require names in order to identify and define all beings and things. Children recognize their angels based on other, more unique and specific indicators, such as feeling, vibration, hues of color, sound and sight."

Happy and Hopeful

Children who encounter guardian angels often emerge from the experiences marked by new happiness and hopefulness, says researcher Raymond A. Moody. In his book The Light Beyond, Moody discusses interviews he conducted with children who have had near-death experiences and often report seeing guardian angels who comfort and guide them through those experiences. Moody writes that "on the clinical level, the most important aspect of child NDEs is the glimpse of the 'life beyond' that they receive and how it affects them for the rest of their lives. They are happier and more hopeful than the rest of those around them."

Teach Kids to Communicate With Their Guardian Angels

It's fine for parents to teach their children how to communicate with the guardian angels they may encounter, say believers, especially when kids are dealing with troubling situations and could use extra encouragement or guidance from their angels. "We can teach our children -- through nightly prayer, daily example, and occasional conversations -- to turn to their angel when they’re afraid or need guidance. We’re not asking the angel to answer our prayer but to go to God with our prayer and surround us with love."

Teach Kids Discernment

While most guardian angels are friendly and have children's best interests in mind, parents need to be aware that not all angels are faithful and teach their children how to recognize when they may be in contact with a fallen angel, say some believers.

In her book A Knowing: Living with Psychic Children, Pierson writes that children can "tune into them [guardian angels] spontaneously. Children can be encouraged to do this but be sure to explain that the voice, or information that comes to them, should always be loving and kind and not rude or abusive. Should a child share that an entity is expressing any negativity then they should be advised to ignore or block that entity and to ask for extra help and protection from the other side. It will be provided."

Explain That Angels Aren't Magic

Parents also should help their children learn how to think about guardian angels from a realistic perspective rather than a magical one, believers say, so they'll be able to manage their expectations of their guardian angels.

"The hard part comes when someone gets sick or an accident occurs and a child wonders why their guardian angel didn’t do its job," writes Poust in The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass. "That’s a tough situation even for adults to face. Our best approach is to remind our children that angels aren’t magic. They are there to be with us, but they cannot act for us or for others, and so sometimes our angel’s job is to give us comfort when something bad does happen."

Take Worries About Your Children to Their Guardian Angels

Author Doreen Virtue, writing in her book The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children, encourages parents who are worried about their children to talk about their concerns with their children's guardian angels, asking them to help each troubling situation. "You can do this mentally, by speaking aloud, or by writing them a long letter," Virtue writes. "Tell the angels everything that you’re thinking, including feelings that you’re not so proud of. By being honest with the angels, they’re better able to help you. … Don’t worry that God or the angels will judge or punish you if you tell them your honest feelings. Heaven is always aware of what we’re truly feeling, but they can’t help us unless we truly open our hearts to them. Talk to the angels like you would to your best friends … because that what they are!"

Learn From Children

The wonderful ways that children relate to guardian angels can inspire adults to learn from their example, say believers. "… we can learn from our children’s enthusiasm and wonder. We’re likely to see in them a total trust in the concept of a guardian angel and a willingness to turn to their angel in prayer in many different types of circumstances," writes Poust in The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass.

Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Hopler, Whitney. "How Do Guardian Angels Care for Children?" Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023, learnreligions.com/do-guardian-angels-care-for-children-123823. Hopler, Whitney. (2023, April 5). How Do Guardian Angels Care for Children? Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/do-guardian-angels-care-for-children-123823 Hopler, Whitney. "How Do Guardian Angels Care for Children?" Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/do-guardian-angels-care-for-children-123823 (accessed March 28, 2024).