About Your Children: They Know.
I don’t know if I’ve officially reached “Auntie” status. Still, I feel old enough to advise all the adults in the room:
Do not play with these kids. When I say kids, I mean anyone under 25.
Do not play mind games. None of them here for the gaslighting. Be honest with them. Tell them the truth about everything. They know anyway. They can feel if your love is tainted by hardship or resentment or jealousy or difficulties with a partner. They know when you want to be with them and when you’d rather be somewhere else. They know if their lives, as they are, are worth living through or not.
Do not play with these kids. When I say kids, I mean anyone under 25.
Do not play mind games. None of them here for the gaslighting. Be honest with them. Tell them the truth about everything. They know anyway. They can feel if your love is tainted by hardship or resentment or jealousy or difficulties with a partner. They know when you want to be with them and when you’d rather be somewhere else. They know if their lives, as they are, are worth living through or not.
If you want to keep them here and happy, feed their hearts. Nurture their imaginations. Don’t tell them the future is secure and that everything’s going to be okay. We don’t know that for sure. And you can see by their general apathy, they know that too.
Tell them the grown folks are working on it and we need their help. Every chore they complete, everything they learn or post online literally moves the world. Tell them so.
Entice them to play. Encourage them to do what their hearts are calling for, because therein lies their gift to the world. That gift is the contribution that will secure our collective tomorrow. Be honest about your spiritual and material struggles. Allow them to offer you wisdom too. Hold each other accountable.
Give them deep, long hugs and a reason for belly laughs. Surround them with as much family and community as you can muster. Teach them the value of traditions, for traditions keep time and protect the spirit from aimlessness. Show them how to know when rain is coming Teach them how tell time by the moon.
They are poised to be our advisors, politicians, leaders, artisans, and craftsmen. They are already on the way to their becoming anyway. So, guide them to become loving and courageous versions of who they are going to be. Even if said children are not yours, they need us. We need them.
