One of the hardest parts about being a parent has to be watching our kids get their hearts broken. It can start early for some. I watched Ramona get her heart broken when she was two. Sometimes it\u2019s even us as their parent who do the breaking. I\u2019m now regretting the decision to encourage a belief in Santa Claus as I know there will be some broken hearts the day my kids learn that it\u2019s all a fantasy. In this case, it\u2019s possible I could have avoided a broken heart. Broken hearts can\u2019t always be avoided, however. Sadly, they are part of being a human and living in a world where people are capable of great emotion\u2014both of love and of fear. Everybody wants to feel worthy. Everyone wants to belong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Yesterday was our school\u2019s \u201cmeet and greet your teacher day\u201d followed by a BBQ. I watched as Ramona started to prep. She picked out a pretty pink dress with lace on top and white tulle on the bottom and paired it with her new high top sneakers. She then brushed her hair about 100 times and picked out a turquoise sparkly headband. She was dressing to impress. I was thinking about how fast she is growing up as she pulled a couple of strands of hair out of her headband to frame her face. She turned to me as asked, \u201cWill my teacher like me?\u201d Ugh. It was like someone slapped me in the face to remind me that sending kids to school is like throwing them to the wolves. \u201cOf course, Ramona!\u201d I answered, \u201cYou are so lovable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Ramona met her teacher, she pulled at my arm and asked\nif she could go play. She was pleased\nwith the meet and greet and was ready to see some classmates. \u201cMom, can I go\nplay on the playground with my friends?\u201d \nI was thrilled to hear this as Ramona has never referred to her\nclassmates as friends before and has struggled to make friends in general. I\ntook Sylvie into her kindergarten classroom to meet her teacher and watched\nRamona go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I came out to the playground 30 minutes later to see Ramona sadly playing by herself. I could feel her pain 100 yards away. When I asked her what was wrong, tears welled in her eyes and she choked out the words, \u201cI\u2019m never going to make a friend. Nobody likes me.\u201d Dagger. In. My. Heart. I told her that sometimes you can\u2019t wait for kids to ask you to play, you just have to jump in and \u201cfake it until you make it.\u201d I assured her that adults have to do the same. So again I watched as my little Ramona Moon gathered all of her courage and picked a group of girls to play with. They were playing on the monkey bars and Ramona joined them\u2014looking back at me for affirmation. And then my advice failed Ramona. The girls left. I swear I could hear them giggling. Rejection. Heartbreak. Humiliation. Shame. Ramona\u2019s body kind of slumped down and all I could see was her sparkly headband as her head was hanging so low. Sylvie and I each took a hand and moved to an area where families were eating picnic style on the grass. I squeezed Ramona and whispered again, \u201cyou are so lovable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tomorrow is Ramona\u2019s first day of second grade and I\u2019m just praying that the world will be kind to her. I\u2019m praying that she will make a friend and that she\u2019ll feel like she belongs. I pray she will know she is lovable and loved. And sadly, sometimes that\u2019s about all we can do as parents. We only have so much control. We can\u2019t clear their path from disappointment and heartbreak forever. But we can give them nods of affirmation. We can be their cheerleaders in this life. We can remind them that they are so lovable and loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the hardest parts about being a parent has to be watching our kids get their hearts broken. It can start early for some. I watched Ramona get her […]<\/p>\n