**I haven’t mentioned this, but I have taken up a challenge to blog every day for a month (since I started, not the calender month). Covering many subjects, silly, serious, deep, crazy. My creativity seems to be within me again. I feel like I have so many ideas and words and I am using this challenge to try and pull myself forward**
I started writing this a little while ago, but seeing the Michael Jackson movie, and thinking about it all again, I have found this (below) – and amended it a bit.
It’s a really hard thing to write, but also I think important. I was shaken a little when somebody I know and care about said that it was OK to smack children, and that it did not affect them when it happened to them.
And I think I felt shocked, and a little bit sad. Shocked that in this world there are still people that think this – but also sad because if that person has been smacked, or had an adult hit them – that isn’t love, that is parenting by fear.
No child should ever have the fear that an adult that is supposed to protect them is going to hurt them. It makes me cry, makes me feel such a deep yearning to protect every single child all over the world. Creed, colour, religion, it does not matter – if I child fears a hand, that child will spend the rest of their life expecting to be punished.
I saw a comment years ago from somebody famous. They said that whenever they saw somebody shouting at a child, it would make them cry. This same comment popped up out of nowhere recently and it made me think about the person who said that being smacked didn’t affect them.
It’s not my right to determine if that is, or isn’t the case. I can only talk from my own experience and understanding. I can only reflect on what I know to be true, what I know in my heart, and how I truly believe that punishing a child with fear only leads to that child never recovering from that fully – even with therapy.
What I have also found, is that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who have experienced a hand or a belt as a child, and like me whenever they see a child, all they see is the beautiful innocence that shines out of them. Unmatched creativity, unsaid words, a life they can lead to be happy and full if they are given love and affection and do not grow to fear the hand of an adult.
I absolutely adore children. And the very strange thing is, I have had people look at me like I am a mad-man when I smile at children. But I believe if a child can see a smile, it makes their world even brighter. And in a bright world, all of their wants and needs and all of their potential will blossom.
I have no idea if we are still living in a world where people think hitting a child is OK. I just hope more and more people start to understand the affect this has. There are better ways to help a child develop skills and good decision making. Things far better than a hand or a belt. Violence and fear should never be an option.
Bloom Love 🖤