Jen's Journal

I see the boy who tenses up with anxiety before he pushes someone to the ground. I see the girl who scratches anyone that gets too close to her. I see the smallest boy bite someone’s arm when they take his favorite book away. I see a group of kids fight over attention from the only adult in the room. All I can do is understand that this is all inherent, and give them ways to cope, not suppress these emotions, but cope.

It comes from parents living in separate bedrooms, listening to them scream at each other, and watching fathers drink themselves to sleep on the weekends. That does not hold a candle to abandonment though. To have your primary caregivers leave you behind at a young age, it damages all future relationships you have and could possibly have.

In fact, everything we do as primary caregivers impacts the way a child will grow up to be. As an adult I’ve had to reflect on all of this and more, and I’ve realized how important it is, now more than ever, to teach kids as young as possible how to cope with emotions. Not suppress them, because this turns into alcoholism and depression and anxiety and addictions and a whole load of things we can’t even imagine.