Preparing our children for the world the way it really is can be challenging.
How do you teach a child how to deal with things like death, divorce, and devastation before they fully grasp life and love?
At any given time in my adult life, somebody has lost someone close, another person is going through or struggling with the looming threat of divorce, and major devastations are rocking the world from the World Trade Center attack to school shootings to hurricanes to massive earthquakes.
Shoot, I don’t think any of us are prepared to handle these situations ourselves let alone be fully equipped to teach our children how to.
We often get lost in our own “woes” that when compared with people around the world turn into trivial frustrations relatively speaking.
You hate your job, some people don’t have one and are all but unable to get one.
Your internet doesn’t work this second, some people don’t have working water or toilets.
You are stuck in traffic, some people have to walk for hours upon hours just to get water.
Your in an argument with your spouse, some people don’t get to choose their spouse in the first place.
I’m not saying your issues aren’t real because they are and they need to be dealt with.
One way to reduce the amount of importance you put on them and thus reduce your stress on the road to finding a solution is to open your eyes to how relatively small and inconsequential your problems are compared to what is going on around the world.
Second, as much as nobody wants to hear this we just as much need to hear it.
Without death, divorce, and devastation we often cannot have healing, growth, fortification, and space for better things.
We often are entrenched so deeply in our way of being that we cannot see a better way until something forces the issue.
As we work our way through the challenging parts of life we grow and strengthen.
I do not wish death, divorce, or devastation on any living soul and in the same breath know that our strength, skill, and character are a direct result of working through them.
Third, ask for and give support.
Humans are social creatures and it is through the power of the community that we are able to grieve, grow, and get through hard times.
Do not go it alone and do not allow others to either.
We are all struggling with something, big or small, and we all can offer at least a little support to one another.
Support when you can.
Ask for help when in need.
Let us heal and grow together.
Brett “How Can I Support You” Denton