Children were brought to Jesus
that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,
“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;
for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
After he placed his hands on them, he went away.
Matthew 19:13-15
We can count on the disciples–their initial reaction is always wrong! Their concept of “the Kingdom” may have been vast, but it was worldly, and worldly kingdoms are “serious business” so shoo those children out of here. Jesus wants every person in the Kingdom, and that includes the children, so, naturally, his attitude is different.
Here, the parents have the right idea–they bring the children to Jesus, and he supports their doing that. He wants whole families, too, whenever he can get them (though he realizes many families will break on just this issue of joining with him).
All this supports the idea of infant baptism–which does involve a laying on of hands and prayer. Scholars now know the word “prevent” used here is found in very early liturgical documents concerning baptism in the Church. Various things could “prevent” a baptism–but young age was never listed.