Slowly Destroying Their Innocence

When I was a child I worried about small details such as getting home when the street lights came on.  I spent summers playing outside and running through sprinklers.  I played football in the street with the neighborhood kids and have the scars on my knees to prove it.  My sister and I rode our bikes all over small town America, without a care in the world.  The worst thing we could imagine happening to us, was being chased by a mean neighborhood dog and getting bit on the bottom (true story).

As an adult what I worry about changes on a daily basis.  My biggest fear is that with each passing day I see the innocence of my children slowly being destroyed.  As parents, Mr. G. and I are a united front when it comes to the well being of our children.  Sure we don't always agree, but in the end we do come together to do what is best for them. 

Kids today have more luxuries than they need; smart phones, tablets, a dozen gaming systems, and many other creative thinking hindrances.  With these devices comes the accessibility of knowledge and exposure to things that young minds may not be ready for. This free accessibility to knowledge comes with a price and can destroy their innocence if we don't pay attention. I learned that lesson first hand one day when my eldest red asked me why those bad men flew planes into the Twin Towers on September 11th.  This conversation stemmed from him browsing around on a "to remain nameless" site and somehow coming across videos of the planes crashing into the towers.  That's when I really felt the innocence of my young children being destroyed and I was letting it happen.  I felt like I no longer had control of the information he needed to know, while holding back the gory details.  I knew I needed to somehow regain that parental right to try and protect his young developing mind. Some may say controlling too much of their lives will hinder their creative thinking and views.  Besides what we don't tell them, they will just learn at school from their friends.  They are 8 and 9 years old. They barely started picking out what to wear to school and still like to be tucked in at night. I highly think they are old enough to be online selecting what videos to watch.

I guess my point of this ramble is that I want my children to be free thinkers, grow and learn in a world that is nothing I would of ever imagined it would be when I was 8 and 9. However, I think as a parent it is my responsibility to make sure they are spending these precious years being a kid and only having to worry about making sure they are home when the street lights come on. For now, I want to carry the burdens of the world on my shoulders for them because one day I will wake up and they will be grown adults trying to protect the innocence of their own children.

xoxo

~Me 

Finding the Good

Abraham Lincoln once said, "We can complain that rose bushes have thorns or we can rejoice that thorn bushes have roses". I probably wouldn't think twice about that quote, but recently I read something similar that had a greater impact on my thinking.  "Every day may not be a good, but there is something good in every day".

There's a lot of truth behind those words.  We tend to focus on the bad of any given situation, rather than see the good.  The good might make us seem to compansionate or thankful. The good might give people the impression that we are "perfect" and live without fault. The reality is we are drawn to the bad and need to be reminded of how to find the good in each day.

For me, I learn from my reds.  They are still too young to judge or cast doubt on others thoughts or beliefs.  They look at a rainy day as getting to have P.E. inside the cafeteria or jumping in newly formed puddles.  We adults may think of it as a ruined round of golf or spots on a freshly washed car.  The lack of paying attention to or acknowledging the good, is turning us individually into the overly critical people we said we'd never become.  So, my late resolution for 2014 is to journal the good I find in each day and hope that come December 31st, I'll have a pretty awesome list to share.

~ Me