In your most challenging parenting moments, take a deep breath and try to remember that the moment your child is at their most challenging is the mom… - L.R. Knost

The world told you
that you had to hide your pain,
to be small and quiet,
so you wouldn't rock the boat.
And you believed.
Then one day you saw
the silent pain in the eyes
of a small and quiet girl
in a boat bound
for nowhere.
And a warrior awoke.
You freed the girl from the silent shackles
and told her that her story mattered,
to tell it deep and wide and loud,
to set the boat ablaze
with every fierce and fiery word
so all the world could hear
and heal.
And you believed.

Don't hide your scars, your stretch marks,
your laugh lines, your calloused hands.
They are your life story,
telling of struggles won and lost,
challenges faced, losses overcome,
life grown and birthed and nurtured,
hard work accomplished,
stars reached for, hopes dashed, dreams realized,
rock bottoms and mountain tops.
They tell the story of your one
amazing, awful, beautiful life
written in the curves and lines of
extraordinary, miraculous, beautiful you.

Protecting our children from the cruelty of the world doesn't mean shielding them from the realities of the world. Tell them the truth. Teach them to care. Give them a voice. Prepare them not to withstand the world, but to change the world.