Personal DS Comment:
My hackles went up today and I had a hard time as I listened to and watched two little girls being silly teasing my kids at the hairdresser while they watched dad getting a haircut.
We went for the exposure to hair cutting and the idea was for both Hope and Arthur to get used to the idea of one's hair being cut. Inside we're two little girls about 7 and 8 who were in hysterics giggling away and getting quite rowdy twirling in a chair as they waited for their granny's hair to be done. Hopey had her glasses on which was quite a feat and the one little girl took one look at Hope and Arthur in the double pram and said loudly to her sister whilst giggling "look at her silly glasses". I felt so stunned and hurt as if I was on the receiving end of it...both Hope and Arthur had been looking excitedly at these two little girls for some social interaction and then what followed was about 15 minutes of these two girls sniggering and teasing about my two to each other in English and Afrikaans. Luckily I don't think Hope heard the glasses comment or the comment about her small nose (which Bryan heard) but she definitely realized that these girls weren't being kind. Eventually I had to haul her out onto my lap because she was hiding her face in her arm and getting upset as was I. I'm not sure if these girls had had a sugar overload and were just over excited but they were not kind and sweet and definitely had not been taught to love and encompass all kinds of people...I shuddered to think how they would grow up if that was their usual behaviour!
It was quite a heart breaking little episode and as I contemplated the kinds of comments and attitudes both my children (but especially Hope) will encounter in life's interactions I wanted to throw my arms around them and shield them from what's to come. I wondered if I should be charging over to the girls and giving them a little lecture but I thought probably a better approach would have been for me to have been super friendly and kind to them when we arrived and got them chatting then perhaps they would have been kinder although not necessarily. But, with a very sore toe and feeling exhausted, I just didn't have the energy plus I was thinking that any minute now one of them would say something sweet and it would all have been a misunderstanding....no luck there though!
Hope is super sensitive to being teased and used to howl if she thought someone was laughing in a mean way right from early days so I know she is very sensitive to tone and body language and it's so hard to figure out how to protect her and keep her innocent as she grows. I suppose it will have to be case of teaching our kids to be confident in who they are, to be taught to love others, to be humble and gentle, and also to expose them to all kinds of people. To teach them that every human being is equal and of great worth to our Father in heaven... It makes me grateful for the little friends Hope has who are being raised well by their parents, who love Hope and want to play with her. And, as I think about all the aspects of being a parent I am reminded over and over how important it is that Bryan Johnston and I are leading by example and especially in our relationships with Christ.
