So, um, it’s not that I don’t want to leave you all to really enjoy that guest post by Otto, below, but I thought I’d pop my head out from this mess on my desk and point out a couple of news items, as well.
(Hey, just be glad I’m not making you read the PTA newsletter, clipart and all.)
First: The Ty’s Toy Box Blog is running again, so if you’re somehow not getting enough of me OR if you have kids and want to stay abreast of relevant television and toy news, you might want to come hang out with me over there. It’s News You Can Use! Well, it’s Beast Boy doing karaoke, today, but whatever. Come on over.
Second: Maybe you read this when I first posted it to BlogHer, but a recent piece of mine has been cross-posted to The Huffington Post. DUDE, I’m on HuffPo. I can die happy now.
Hrmpf … just had to one-up me, eh?
Thank you. You have so eloquently put what I live every day. My husband doesn’t understand why I don’t let my 6-yr-old go to the bathroom by himself, why I obsess if he gets away from me, why I hold on to both of my kids so tightly.
Have you considered submitting that to a paying publication? It is poignant and sad and true and yet hopeful. We need more of that.
tolja. trying to keep the average high. looking at 780 now.
Preach, honey. That was beautiful. (My therapist told me yesterday that I should read a book called “Healing the Shame that Binds You”. I think I will.)
Wow. Somehow I missed that piece before. It happened to me, too, Mir, and I’m so glad you said what you said.
:applauding:
Wow. That was amazing. Thank you for your honesty. I plan to discuss the good secret/bad secret thing TODAY with my girls.
Mir, I have tears and chills. Seriously. And that doesn’t happen too often for me.
Chewie
Really good job, honey. Thank you.
I finally followed the link and read the post. I am so sorry. I can’t imagine how that would’ve been for you, or anyone else for that matter. I am a very private person. I don’t think I would have the courage to talk about it. I admire you for yours.
Well done on the HuffPo! Hope you’ll be back to stopping here longer soon!
Excellent piece. I tell my kids we are allowed to have surprises (good things, always revealed) but not secrets. Perhaps it might even protect them from being molested in the first place if they are able to tell a potential perp, “I don’t keep secrets.”
Thank you for your gracious honesty and courage.
I am so sorry about your experience Mir. Maybe somebody somewhere who has read your writing will take courage from your courage. It isn’t right to live a life with such a burden. As far as secrets go you really nailed it. We have to equip our children as much as we possibly can. It makes people uncomfortable, thinking the worst, bringing bad things into innocent minds.We want to believe everything will be okay and let them have a childhood full of kind uncles and gentle adult friends.Somehow it doesn’t seem right to add that element of mistrust.But to keep a child in the dark and never give them an opportunity to think and talk about such things is to weaken them in the face of those who would exploit that innocence.
Congrats on having your post being posted at the Huffington Post (Dammit! There were too many “posts” in this sentence!).
Congrats on the Huff Post. That is awesome.
I am sorry to hear about your experience, but touched and moved you would share it with us. I ask you to remember one thing. Please don’t assume that only girls are in “danger.” It happens to boys, as well, with the same devastating effect. I know you’re teaching them both about secrets, but Monkey needs to know and understand this just as much as Chickadee does. And, I promise you, us fathers are just as terrified as you mothers.