I don’t have a problem being mean & selfish.

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One of the biggest lessons your learn as a child is to “be nice”. I feel that this has become more of an obsession now, a kind of psychosis since many people will die before they are known to “not be nice”. Women and children allow themselves to be victimized and taken advantage of in many ways because they were taught that it was unkind to say “no” or “stop” or “don’t” as it might hurt the other persons feelings.

It has taken me a long time to throw that lesson out the window.

Things children learn…

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I remember once we had a dog. One day this dog disappeared and my mom said he had run away. I believed this for a long time until much later when I heard that they had found him dead in the woods in the back of the house. Now, to be honest I really don’t know what happened to that dog. However, what I do know is that adults like to lie to children. I learned not to trust them. This happened frequently about a lot of things. Maybe my favorite toy or item of clothing was thrown away…it was always “lost” until of course later when someone would forget. Many pets were “lost” or “ran away” until later someone would forget and let it be known that they were actually killed by cars or even just given to someone else.

I realize that sometimes parents lie to their kids in order to spare their feelings. As a mother I totally understand it. I also realize the importance of those lessons and tell my kids the truth. I want my kids to know that they can come to me and get correct answers…or at least as close to it as I know. When my son’s fish died I told im the truth. That he got sick and we couldn’t help him. It was hard watching my son mourn his little fish, but in the long run he learned an important lesson, even if he doesn’t’ realize it. He learned he can trust me and that I will always, always tell him the truth.

 

I Gave My Kid a Camera Tuesday

Self Portrait