Life is changing all around us. It is up to us to do what we can control. First things first, love your family. I saw a quote circling around the web. Do you like how I said, “the web?” Anyway, it was a quote from Mother Theresa. “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” I do believe that to a certain extent. I’ve always believed that everything starts at home. What are we teaching our children? What values are we instilling? If we are teaching kindness, show kindness. If we are teaching compassion, show compassion. It is so easy to say and spout. It is harder to do and act. Do it by showing compassion to different views and ideas. If you are passionate about politics, make sure you share things responsibly and without vulgarity. We are trying to shape our youth. They are watching us furiously type. They are watching us furiously complain. They are watching how we act and react.
Be kind.
That is all I will say about that.
I am feeling spent from the differing views. I’m kind of addicted to getting to the truth of the matter. It’s how I try to live my life. I try to understand. Dig deep. Figure out ‘the why.’ Read all sides…all views…and take it issue by issue. My husband is the same as me. We like to get to the heart of the matter. It is also how we try and raise our kids, our three very young and very impressionable daughters. 7, 5, and 1 years of age. Talk about shaping. Talk about our youth. Talk about a house full of women. Talk about it all…
My 7-year-old is not going to sleep easily lately. She fears Kermit the Frog’s alter ego, Constantine. She has been afraid of this since she saw the movie when she was 5. When my husband decided that he wanted to take her to see it, we had no idea it was a darker version of the Muppets. We both grew up loving the Muppets so we had no clue it would be something that would affect her like that. She got scared and we left within 15 minutes. But, it stuck with her. She was scared at first but she hasn’t talked about it in over a year. And then one day last week, he came up. And now, she can’t go to sleep without someone else in the room. Her fears come out at night. SO, I’m digging deep. What else could be bothering her? What would bring this up out of nowhere?
Well, it turns out that something was going on at school and we talked about it and I fixed the problem. Constantine is still present, i.e., (I believe he represents her fears), but we are trying to work through it. I’m trying to work through it also. Because, after a long day with 3 kids, I just want to lay face down on my bed. It takes an enormous about of patience to get through Constantine’s wrath. If I could strangle that stupid frog, I would. The monster spray I ordered from Amazon for $15 doesn’t even work. As my daughter says, “My fears are bigger than the spray.”
Our fears, however, can’t be bigger than the spray.
I told my daughter that she doesn’t need to fear anything. That’s my job. My job is to fear for her. “Put all your fears on me. I can take it.”
After all, it is our job to protect our children; from Constantine and from the world around us. My number one priority is my family. Keep them close. Love them hard. Shield them when they are young. Make sure they are SAFE! Make sure they are LOVED! Make sure we take control of what we can control. Display our strength. Our priority should always be protecting our youth.
Nobody else is raising these children. We are. And that is a lot of power. More power than we could ever imagine.
“No you don’t have to keep it on a locking key
‘Cause I will never let you down
And if you can’t escape all your uncertainties
Baby I can show you how”
-Ed Sheeran (Lay it All on Me)
Constantine has nothing on us.
Noreen Heffernan, Writer, MA in Public and Corporate Communications, Certified in PR Writer, Growing Ladies and Beautycounter Consultant,
Noreen.heffernan@gmail.com