I get angry and honestly it felt great to talk to him about it. To get his views on what it is that is important and to see how innocent, kind and wise even a 6 year old can be. I believe it's our duty to humanity and our responsibility as a parent to talk to our children about the times we are living in. It's our duty to raise kind-hearted, respectful, loving adults that will stand for what they believe is right and speak up against hate and violence. That's my goal.
Ben is just 6 years old but he is very wise and I love listening to his responses whenever we have serious conversations. I wanted to write this post to encourage you to speak to your children about hate and violence and bad people. As a mother I understand sometimes it's hard to have these conversations with our children but we have to make the effort and find a way. I didn't want to state facts that he doesn't need to know about yet but I did find a way and it went something like this:
Me: Ben I wanted to sit and talk to you about a few things.
Ben: ok mama
Me: You know that unfortunately there are bad people in this world right?
Ben: I know
Me: Some bad people don't like others simply because of the color of their skin and that's not ok. There are people who want to be mean to others just because they don't like them. But we have to spread love and kindness and be nice to others no matter the color of our skin because God wants us all to love each other.
Ben: I know mama. I am tan, you are tan, Emme is peach and papa is a little darker... and we all love each other no matter what.
Me: Yes Ben and we also have to love everyone outside our home, your friends and even be kind to the people we don't know. What would you say we need to do so that everyone is kind?
Ben: We should pray that God lets the bad people be kind to everyone and put love in their heart.
If it was only that easy baby boy.
... but nonetheless, that my friends, is when I knew I was doing the right thing. It's so important for me to instill what I believe is right in my children's hearts. This is one of the very reasons that I knew that speaking up on my platforms was indeed the right thing to do today; my children. When my 6 year old son responded with that simple but very deep and honest answer, my heart felt full. I felt a little more hope. At least as a mom I felt like I was winning.
Let's open this conversation in our homes, even to our small children. They are wiser than we know and they are the future that we need to focus on. Even the smallest steps into creating kindness and love and spreading goodness will count. Even this very simple conversation I had with Ben impacts our lives and our world. I know that I am raising 2 kind, respectful, loving children that one day will continue to spread the kindness and love we need right now.
Don't forget to say your prayers everyday. We need them more now than ever. Let's continue to raise tiny warriors of love and light... with this today I lived amongst so much sadness. Let's be strong and resist... we do not back down, not then, not now... for our children's future.
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