Our son
was about 2 years old at the time. He
was just finishing up with his bedtime snack, when a “grown up” movie started
on the television. Wanting to protect
his young eyes and ears, I said, Hey
Buddy, let’s go in the other room. This
is a Papa movie, and it might be a little bit scary. His eyes got big as he looked up at me and
asked, Do you mean it has spiders in it?
Spiders?! That was the scariest thing he could imagine! I loved the innocence of it! And really, isn’t that what parents want to
do – to preserve their children’s sweet innocence as long as they can? To protect them from the harsh realities of
life? The world can be full of danger
and disappointments and brokenness, but do they really need to know about all
of that just yet?
When we
welcome foster kids into our home, we are doing the exact opposite of
protecting our own children’s innocence.
We are exposing them, from a
very young age, and most likely before they are mature enough to process it all,
to the grim facts. To the darkest, most
awful, most shocking ways that people live.
We are showing them, firsthand, how people hurt one another. How poor choices can lead to such devastating
consequences. How families can fracture
and leave broken children in their wake.
Before our
children are old enough to understand the meanings, they hear ugly words like domestic violence and restraining order. They hear about addictions and mental illness. How can a child who has only known a loving,
stable, safe home possibly understand what child
abuse means? Really? Parents hurt their children? On purpose?!
