Hidden Dangers

I have often heard people speak of the hidden dangers of childhood. As a parent I’ve learned that those dangers are not just mommy and daddy’s head ache medicines and the yucky stuff that cleans the clogs out of the pipes. To me those dangers are far less consequential than the real dangers of childhood. The real dangers being the beer on daddy’s breathe. The pills in mommy’s hand. The bill collectors calling at dinner time with threats of forclosure and lawsuits. The scenes of depression and poverty that so much of this country lives in that too many young people have to see. Those to me are the real dangers.

Now true, for some the fear of little junior swallowing drano maybe more realistic than little junior having to sleep in two layers of clothes and his winter coat because the power was turned off and there was no heat in the middle of february. But, its the lasting impact left on some many kids that does the damage. We try to tell ourselves that they don’t understand whats going on. But, we see the change in expressions when they see mommy crying at the table with the letter with the brightly colored strip down the side. We hear the silence when daddy starts his slurred yelling at everyone around him.

These are things we can’t simply put Mr.Yuck stickers on and tell our little ones “no don’t touch.” These are the things that give us as parents nightmares on a regular basis. So how do we prevent tehm from happening? Well, the truth is on a large part we can’t. It truly does take the village to raise the child. And our children need to know that there are som many bad things out there. All we can do is hold them tighter. Tell them we love them one more time than usual. And take every oppurtunity to let them know that we are all trying and we will always be there for them.

In the long run maybe it will make them appreciate what they may have when they get older even more? Who’s to say. And maybe just maybe it’s not them that we are teaching these lessons to. Maybe it us.