How many times have you sat and watched a movie with your
kids—one with a good dose of ‘hidden’ adult humor (clean and otherwise). We
assume these comments fly right over the top of our kids’ heads. They don’t get
it…or do they?
We pack up our kids and move them to a new house or even
city without giving their thoughts and feelings much thought. After all, kids
are resilient. They roll with the punches…or do they?
In other words, kids
have a lot more going on in their little heads than we often give them credit
for and they are a lot more in-tune to what you are thinking and feeling than
you think they are. Oh—and here’s something else you need to know…they care.
I was reminded of how true this is a few weeks ago when my four
year-old grandson Reuben, ‘reached out’ to his mom to try to make her feel
better…
I need to start by saying that deer hunting is a big deal in
my family, but this year’s unusually warm, windy season made it more difficult
for hunting than usual. In other words, Reuben’s mom, Olivia, didn’t get her
deer. After she had been home from the hunting trip for a couple of days, Reuben
asked his mom if she ‘found a deer in the woods’. After hearing her answer of “no”,
Reuben got up off the floor and went to his room to play. Or so Olivia thought…
A short while later Reuben came back into the living room
carrying a ‘deer’ made of Lego blocks and said, “Now you have a deer, Mommy. I
made one for you.”
It wasn’t like Olivia was heartbroken or devastated over not
getting a deer this year. That’s just the way it goes. But Reuben doesn’t know
that yet. All he knows is that his mommy’s trip didn’t turn out the way she
expected or hoped it would and he wanted to make her feel better.
So you see, your kids are conscious of what’s going on around
them—conscious and concerned. That’s
why it is important for us as parents and grandparents to be equally conscious
and concerned about what we expose our children to, how we express ourselves,
and our expectations of how they will handle it all.
Love,
Momma D
Copyright 2016 Darla Noble. No part of this can be used or copied without permission from the author.
