Protect the little ones

I'm feeling a lot of different things right now. Feelings and thoughts that need to be written or they will just keep eating away at me. Dan came home and told me about some recent stories he had heard on the news about bullying.

One is of a 14-year old girl in Florida who was bullied so heartlessly and extensively by another 14-year old and 12-year old girl, she ended up climbing to the top of an old mill and jumping off, resulting in her death. Read more on the story here.

The other story is of an fourteen-year old boy who was brutally and viciously killed by other teenagers. Read more on the story here.

My heart has been heavy and hurting since I heard of these devastating events. Thoughts like, "They were just kids?!" and "What is our world coming to??" and "Why?!?" kept coming back to my mind. And then I looked over at the precious innocence of my little boy who is only concerned about barking, making a soup out of his lunch, and the sound of a helicopter outside. My heart then broke about a thousand more times. My precious child will be faced with bullying and unkindness. He will see and hear things that are upsetting and scary and I will not always be there to protect him.

I was filled with a sense of my great responsibility as a parent. I didn't even slightly understand the feelings of love and protection I would have until I had this little child of my own. But now I do. I understand that his safety is my job. It is my responsibility to try to get him through childhood, tween- and teenhood safe, protected not only from physical harm, but emotional and spiritual harm.

My dad describes the teenage years as being in a cloud or a fog. They are in this (oftentimes miserable) fog and do not even realize it. They think they know what's best and can see ahead, but they can't. As their parents, having survived this fog ourselves, our job is to safely guide them through. Even if they despise us for it and do everything they can to fight it and are kicking and screaming the whole way. Once they get out of the fog, they will realize their previous state of confusion and thank us for protecting them and being good parents. 

I always want to be close with my children. I want them to be able to talk to me and tell me if someone is bullying them so we could take care of it. I want them to know family is above all else. We will do everything in our power to protect each other. I will not be afraid to stand up for my children, even if I may offend another parent or may not be "politically correct." My allegiance is to my family. I will unrelentlessly defend them, protect them, and fight for them and thanks to the knowledge I have of life after death, I know even death can't stop me.

It's so hard as parent! They want to be independent and run free and we have to learn how to let them be free while still protecting them. I'm thankful for my family and thankful for the knowledge I have that I know that girl who killed herself is in a better place.