About a month ago, Grammie was heading off for a long weekend in Mississippi. I happened to look at the clock and mention to Shortstack that she would be there any minute. You could see the concern wash across his little face as he looked at me and said, ‘but it’s all flooded there…’ Of course I explained that they would be ok, and that the flooding happened in other areas of the state, and that it was mostly gone now. But his reaction really made me think. All of us grown-ups (I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a member of that group–is that how our parents feel about claiming their senior citizens discount???) have become oblivious and/or immune to so much around us–a prime example being all the marketing ploys we’re bombarded with every day. Sure, with major events like the tsunami, Katrina & the other storms, the earthquake in Pakistan, etc. catch our attention, but it usually doesn’t take too long for everyone to get back into the normal mode of operation. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As parents, we are well aware that children notice every single little thing. Even with our highly tuned, super-sensitive parental radar fully operational, throw in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and it’s all too easy for the things that are really affecting and bothering our kids to fly in under the radar and surprise us later on.

I have tried to find some sort of balance between keeping Shortstack in tune with current events without overwhelming him with all the doom & gloom and all that comes with it. It’s definitely a lot harder than I ever imagined it would be. I try to stick with the facts and try to point out the positive in the situations and how important it is that we be prepared, and that we always help others, etc. I’d like to think I usually do a pretty decent job of finding that middle ground, but sometimes I do wonder.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 5th, 2005 at 11:13 am and is filed under Our Little Care Bear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.