It seems that every time I turn on the news or social media, there is always something to complain about.
Terrorism, aggressive politics, wild animals attacking children, racism, homophobia and greed. We can choose from an extensive buffet of problems to complain about for breakfast; however, I wonder if we are conscious of how we process so much information and how we share it in front of our children.
With so much technology at our finger tips, it is very clear to me we do not allow ourselves time to calm down and think about how we are going to handle our emotions and words. What for? We have emojis to express ourselves immediately. Now we can make a comment or a judgment in a snap of a finger, and I have to ask myself: is this okay?
What happened to: “first calm down and then decide what you are going to do or say?” I thought this was always such excellent advice. Are we losing basic good common sense? And more importantly…are we teaching that to our children?
Most of the times I try to use the negative information that circulates as a platform for a lesson. We can always learn something from any situation. I have my mother to thank for that. She would say: “a problem is like a diamond. You can see it from many angles and sometimes beautiful things come out because of them.”
I hope we do not lose the ability to discern and dissect problems. I hope we can find the time to simmer down and strategically react most of the times for our children’s sake.
When my kids hear about a shooting, I explain about mental health and how we are lucky to have it. When they hear about a scam, I talk to them about man’s chaotic love of money and how compassion and respect is always a better path. When they heard about the crocodile drowning Lane Graves in Orlando, Florida, I explained about rare wild animal encounters and their occasional unusual behavior.
It’s up to us to help our children view the world with kindness. They are not equipped yet with criteria; we have to lend them ours. That is our responsibility, and we better review what we offer them. After all, if they do not learn perspective from us, who are they going to learn it from? Social media?
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