This is because children feel things deeply. Our gentle presence is what helps them feel safe and loved. The kindness that saves us is what makes our gentle presence so important.
There are times when we stop scrolling through our phones. Times when all the noise around us just fades away. Times when we remember how weak and soft people can be but how brave they are. Especially little kids.
I saw a picture that really made me think about this. It was a picture of a girl with a bandage on her head getting better after having surgery on her brain. She was making a heart shape with her fingers and they were shaking. Next to her was a woman in a uniform. Maybe a soldier, maybe someone who takes care of people maybe someone who protects others. This woman was trying not to cry.
Even though nobody is talking in the picture it says a lot. It says a lot in a way but also in a quiet way. It says everything it needs to say.
The picture talks about hurt about being scared about love about being strong and about the connection between grown-ups and kids. Grown-ups want to keep kids from the bad things in life.
This picture is not a picture. It is something we can learn from. It makes us think about our lives. It reminds us that little kids can feel big emotions and that sometimes just being gentle, with them can make them feel better.
The Unfiltered World of a Child
Before they are three years old a child lives in a world where everything’s right in front of them. Their brain is still figuring out how to tell the difference between what they feel and how they feel. They do not have the tools that grown-ups use to make hard things feel less bad.
To a baby a fall is not a fall.
It is a shock.
It is confusion over.
It is fear that they do not know how to deal with.
It is hurt feelings mixed with pain.
Kids do not separate themselves from their feelings.
They do not make their feelings smaller.
They do not think of reasons why things happen.
They feel everything.
