In the animal kingdom, a mother will not hesitate to put herself in harm’s way to protect her offspring. This innate responsibility towards her young is not only an amazing attribute but something we as the more advanced, civilized and intellectual species (yeah right) could and should use as a standard for how we react and protect our children. I don’t necessarily mean in the physical sense either. I heard a story today about some Children in an elementary school who were sent home with a couple of small stories they were to read with their parents. The parents were to fill out a piece of paper which informed the teacher about the story time between the parent and the child. All the parent had to fill out was whether or not the child had read the story, if the child needed help reading the story and how long it took to go through them. On average it should have taken about ten to fifteen minutes. On more than one occasion the teacher received a piece of paper from a parent which had written on it two simple words...”NO TIME”
I am not a mother nor am I a caregiver to a child, but I do know one thing and it is not that difficult a concept to grasp. If you don’t have ten or fifteen minutes a day to read to your child, do you really have time to do anything else with them. Why are you a parent? Why did you make the choice to have children or make the choice to keep a child when it was probably blatantly obvious that it would be in the best interest of the child to be put up for adoption. We all have choices in this matter and unfortunately more and more, the children are being left out of the equation.
You are probably wondering why I am talking about this when I am supposed to be focused on writing about kindness. Well here it is. I am a firm believer that education is the key. I don’t necessarily mean algebra or social studies. What I do mean is education about life and how to be respectful and kind to others and to learn how to value someone else’s opinion even if you don’t agree. But most importantly, learn how to understand that diversity is nothing to fear and hurting someone else just because they are not the same as you will no longer be tolerated by society. Those of you who do spend time with your children will know exactly what I am talking about. Those of you who don’t will probably have an issue following along. If we don’t take the time to show our children that we care and that we are there for them and that we ourselves are responsible and want what is best for them, how can they ever grow up to do the same for someone else. If we don’t show that we love our children enough to take ten minutes out of our day to read to them, how are they ever going to feel strong enough to not only love someone else but to themselves as well? Children do what they see and say what they hear. Surprise!!! Some children are strong enough to know the difference between right and wrong and the ways of the world at an early age. However, most are at the mercy of the people in their surroundings. So here is the tricky part; bulling, disrespect for others, acting out, becoming violent, racism, hatred ... and many many more, are all issues that can be dealt with by showing a little compassion a lot of love and a handful of education thrown in for good measure. I am not saying that is the “end all” of our problems, but it has to start somewhere and since oue future is our children...Why not start there?
