How important is it to know the truth?

I don’t know about you but I still try and protect my ‘children’, they are still my children even though both married, but can we protect them too much?

We seem to live in a world where we don’t allow them to take risks of any sort, so they are driven here ,there and everywhere, be it to after school clubs,rehearsals,sport clubs etc. So much so that some children I worked with had never been on a bus and appeared to have no independent life at all, is that good for our children?

When difficult situations occur in families, should we shelter them from the truth?

In my opinion, we should be truthful.

If we expect children to be open and honest with us, we should be the same with them.

A child who has to perhaps face a personal tragedy needs to be able to talk about it, needs to have questions answered truthfully and with care.

We have to be able to say to them that sometimes we don’t know the answers or why horrid stuff happens to us, but we need to let them know that whatever is happening to them or a member of their family or to one of their friends, that we will support them and be there for them no matter what.

Children are ours on loan,they have to be able to cope on their own at some stage of their lives, some will be much younger through circumstances beyond anyone’s control.

They deserve to know the truth, they should be allowed to ‘take a risk’ to equip them for the future.

We won’t always be there to hold their hand.

Jane.