Innocence

A child is pure innocence. So what if I joke that Jack is pure terror. Even he is as innocent as can be. I am amazed and disappointed and saddened and angered when I hear that another child has been hurt by an adult. I do not understand how you could look down at that adorable face and want to do them harm. Children completely depend on us to be their role model. I feel bad when I choose a night out with friends when I should have spent it with my children. Or if I miss family day at school. Or if I can't be there to hold their hand for vaccinations. I am completely filled with guilt when I realize I made a bad parenting choice. How does someone purposely harm a child? I just can't wrap my mind around it. This innocence is worth protecting. If you ever think a child may be in danger it is your responsibility to protect them. We need to all band together to make a difference. Children have this amazing resilience about them. I watched a video of Lily learning to skate. She fell way more than she stood and there was minimal skating going on. But she kept getting up over and over again. She wanted to skate so badly. When is the last time you got back up that many times or tried that hard? Honestly, I can't remember putting in that much effort ever. And she watched me watching that video and when I was done I turned and smiled about to tell her how proud I am of her. And she looked at me sadly and told me she wasn't a good skater. And when I hugged her and told her that I thought she was incredible, she told me that was good because she loves it. Inspite of falling a million times and knowing that she wasn't very good (yet) she loves skating. That was the lesson of the day for me...for sure. No one loves doing things they aren't good at. But maybe we should. I think I'm going to reconsider some activities based on that lesson. I think it's going to open up my world a little. Children are amazing. Don't ever take them for granted. They are sponges who see everything you do. But most of all, they have the most amazing things to teach you. Open up your heart and learn.