Teach 'em when their young

 

I knew I was going to have to teach my children how to walk.

 

I knew I was going to have to help them yean off of something; nursing, bottles, Sippy cups, pacifiers, etc.
I knew I was responsible for rearing the perfect blend of independence, obedience, kindness and courage in my children.
I knew I was going to have to help them learn to share.
I knew I was going to have to teach them to potty train. To ride a bike, drive a car, learn their ABC's, and so on and so forth.

But I wasn't prepared for teaching them about the real world, and letting them deal with it.
I should have been. But I am not.

Today, Sariah picked a book out of the library that was titled "You wouldn't want to be a nurse during the Civil War". For a cartoon children's book, it was pretty graphic.  And it was hard to explain it to Sariah. To explain death, war, anger towards another to the point of hurting them.

More specifically, the other day Sariah pooped outside.
I mean, it was sort of funny. A bunch of kids were outside at church (around dusk) playing tag or hide-n-go seek, when a few older kids came and told me Sariah pooped outside. I walked around the building and found the 'crime scene'.  Right it front of a main entrance, right on the cement. Sariah was sitting around a corner about 15 feet away. I asked the older kids if anyone saw her do it, and no one did- but a few of them did see her standing up pulling up her pants.

 

I walked around and found Sariah, an older kid keeping watch of her, but Sariah sitting by herself, looking very, solemn.
I knelt down and talked to Sariah, she told me she pooped (and pee'd, but no one else seemed to notice). She didn't say much else, and didn't understand my questions about the other kids laughing/saying it was gross at her. She was confused about their reactions. She didn't poop in her underwear. She did right. She didn't understand why they were reacting so odd.

 

And it made me want to cry. I mean, the whole situation was sort of funny. And I am glad to know that I can take her camping without difficulty in that department, but my little girl got her feelings hurt and she has no clue. No clue that the kids thought what she did was gross. No clue that what she did was awkward.

And I am supposed to teach her to just accept it, and move on. Don't let it phase her. Just a scratch.

It sucks.
It sucks that she has to learn that the world is going to be mean.
And I know she has to. I told Joe this story and how sad it made me. Then he said it was good. These are the things that the older kids need to teach her. The things that I can't, the socially acceptable behavior that doesn't always occur at home.

 

Sariah is young enough, it is just a scratch on the surface for her. She has moved on.
But it was more than a scratch for me. It was much deeper, realizing how much I want to protect my children, and realizing how mean the world can be without me even realizing it. But also a slap in the face to how much I need to be the best I can be for her, to be an example about how to take things and keep moving on.