Walking on Broken Glass

Confession: I have become quite jaded in my nine and a half years of motherhood, I rarely respond to crying. I have these two secret signals that I wait for.

1. Another child rushing to tell me that another child is hurt. This indicates that the child who is hurt cannot come get me themselves ='s PROBLEM!

2.The shattering of glass.

Nothing makes me move faster than that chilling sound. Before I even get to the scene I am screaming, "NO ONE MOVE! NO ONE MOVE!"

This morning I was listening to Julia read out loud to me and I heard that awful sound of glass shattering coming from the "little's" (Anderson and Lucy) room.

From there I just went down my check list of  'glass cleaning procedures'; grab trash can, broom, dust mop and vacuum. Remove large pieces, sweep left overs into dust mop, vacuum. Get down on hands and knees and tilt my head so the light reflects differently so I can see hidden pieces, then carefully sweep my hands over the area where the glass shattered to see if I feel any pricks. Then last but not least take off socks and walk around, seeing if the area clears the "barefoot standard."

Today, when I was walking around barefoot at the scene, cringing with each step, I thought, "Why am I doing this? What on earth compels me to take my socks off and intentionally put myself on the receiving end of potential pain?

It didn't take long for the answer to come, because I would rather shoulder the pain of a piece of glass going into the bottom of my foot then let one of my children get hurt!

So much of parenthood is leading your child to life giving situations. Every child is going to make mistakes. Repeat: every child is going to make mistakes!! Immaturity, youth, stupidity, and naivety being the root cause.

But one of the high privileges of parenting is going before our children and clearing the path so that their pain can be minimized. (i.e. don't touch the hot burner, don't run in the street, buckle up in the car, etc..etc) This isn't our forever role. Sometimes we over reach as parents and try to maintain this role for far too long. It's actually only our role for a very short period of time. And it isn't just isolated to helping them avoid physical pain, but spiritual, mental, emotional, and sexual.

This fall, Mark and I began what we anticipate to be a LOOONNNNGGG series of conversations with Katie about womanhood, puberty, her body, and yes, SEX!! And you DID you read that correctly when I said MARK AND I!  We had been advised by several couples we highly respect to include both Mark and me on this fragile conversation. Mark still has full access to Katie. She is not awkward around him AT ALL. So we figured we would benefit from that sweet innocence as long as we could.

I cannot do the conversation justice on paper. I just can't. It's much more believable when Mark and I tell it together, (just like our honeymoon from hell story! :) It was HILARIOUS, enlightening, awkward, but by far the one of the SWEETEST conversations we have EVER had with Katie.

For months leading up to this precious conversation we prayed, we sought advice, and prayed some more. I didn't want it to be a flippant conversation, but a conversation spring boarding these kinds of talks for the rest of Katie's life.

God answered our prayers.

It was not the easiest conversation we had ever had, at some points I would have rather been stepping on glass, :) but we did it for HER! To help lay a foundation that will enable her to avoid shattered glass situations in the broken world that is all around her, by educating her with full disclosure, by giving her the right to approach us whenever she wanted regarding these issues, and to be guaranteed she had our undivided attention and our honesty.

The pay off?

I woke up the other morning and found a love note from Katie.

Parts of it read,
"Dear Mom, I don't know what I would do without you. I am so glad to have a mom like you. I think it is cool that we are girls. When you guys told me about periods and stuff, it was kind of.....well....embarrassing or maybe even weird, but the more I have learned about growing up I just think it is awesome! Mama you are the best! I love you with all my heart!"

For real people, walk on broken glass for your kids!! Make the hard decisions. Have the awkward and difficult conversations for the safety of your children. Take the time to KNOW them, to learn about them, to explore the delicate places of their hearts. It's so, so worth it!

Happy Walking!
~Sara