Hi all,

I recently shared a visual that was quite compelling… it’s on my Facebook page… Author Pam Saxelby, please take a look.

As I looked at this image again, it made my heart sad. No parent needs to be perfect, and none of us are… and I am sure all of us have said something hurtful to our children in a moment of anger, lost patience, or exhaustion.

Yet, when we do this, the ramifications for our children are huge.

Kids internalize what we say, and I wonder if the words we use are equally as powerful as the actions we choose.

I know that as an all grown up women, I still remember some challenging moments in my childhood… words that were said, in anger and haste.

No, I am not scarred for life… yet, I still remember them. And I as I think about it, some of the words used caused me to spend some time working on and through them as I became an adult.

My parents were good people who truly tried to raise us well…

My husband and I tried to look at what we had experienced as children and craft together the best parts of what we saw our parents do.

Yet, even though I know we tried hard, I am sure we were not perfect, BUT I do know that when I believed that what I had said, or did, was wrong, I would apologize to my children. In the hope that I would assuage any hurt, or minimize any pain that I had caused through my own poor choice. Demonstrating respect for them as unique people, all on their own.

I do know that being a parent is hard… but being a child is harder. They are vulnerable and need our care.

I often say that children don’t ask to be born and have no choice of who they are born to. So, when we, as parents, choose to have children, we also need to choose the words we use around them.

Words are extremely powerful… I would ask each of us to choose the words we use carefully… they can do either a lifetime of good, or a lifetime of harm.

The words I choose right now to sign off on today’s thoughts are:

Love

Care

Respect

Love your children well, care for them well, and respect them. They deserve that.

Until next time,

Pam