Childhood is a time of innocence and naivety, blissful ignorance meant to last into young adult-hood. But sometimes it doesn’t go that way. Sometimes, all too often these days, children are forced to grow up too fast. Their eyes that should be viewing the beauty in the world see things that not even adults want to witness. Their ears that should be hearing bedtime stories, “I love you’s”, and laughter hear things that would make grown men cringe. And their alway growing bodies that should be feeling the constant warmth of a loved ones hug, “raspberries”, and butterfly kisses, feel no contact from those who are supposed to provide these gestures of love. Heart-breakingly, many children face these realities each day. Every single time they do, their minds become more confused as to what love should be, and their view of the world becomes much darker.
It’s one of the hardest things, for adults, let alone teachers to handle. Things happen and children, with their sponge-like brains soak it all in. We can’t stop it. We can’t shelter them. We can’t shield their eyes or cover their ears. We can’t stop their hearts from breaking or tear down the walls they are building up inside.
But what we can do is love them. We can show them all the positive things that this amazing world has to offer. We teach them how to read so they have an escape, and a way to experience things that they don’t even know exist. We teach them to write so they can share their dreams and stories with us. We can provide structure in their lives; stability that they will fight us on throughout our short time with them during the school day. This structure that they claim is so “unfair” or “dumb” is what keeps them coming back each day. We can put band-aids on their boo-boos and on their broken hearts. We can give them a safe, nurturing, positive environment. We can fill their bellies with nutritious food and their minds with positive praises. We can get them to add a door to the walls they are building.
On rare occasions, they’ll even open up that door for us and tell us the things that their ears have heard or their eyes have seen. And when this happens, let me tell you, it hurts us. Hurts in a way that I can’t describe. It reminds us again how fleeting the innocence of child-hood is.
But it also provides us with hope. That they trust us enough to share with us these things, it means that we’re doing our job. It means that we’ve given them a safe place to share their secrets and their worries. It tells us that their hearts are still open to love, positivity, and healthy relationships. It assures us that while innocence can’t be given back, that we can make the future brighter. And this feeling, I’ll tell you, this feeling is un-like any other.
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