Belief

Last weekend I jumped in the car with my family to travel to Martha's Vineyard for the weekend and visit my husband's parents for Father's Day.  As we are sitting in the car on the ferry, my little one casually mentions the fact that he cannot wait until tonight because the tooth fairy is coming.  Not knowing he had lost a tooth at a friend's house that day, I was in complete shock and paralyzed with panic.  We were headed to the vineyard at night, no stores would be open, and Teagan thinks money is impersonal.  So when he loses teeth, the tooth fairy brings him small tokens - like Pokemon card packs.

So, as he is rambling away, I declare that because we are going to an island, it would be hard for the tooth fairy to get Pokemon cards there.  Teagan confirms that this is true, because the tooth fairy has to fly all the way to Japan and back to go get him special Pokemon cards and that would take several days.  That night we wrote a note saying as much: the tooth fairy would be back in five nights.

The next morning Teagan woke up and saw the note.  He was ecstatic! Teagan shared that the tooth fairy would never let him down. He BELIEVED the tooth fairy had his back, put him first, and was going to get the perfect 4 dollar pack of Pokemon cards in Japan.  What I thought was a crisis because of the potential to disappointment my son, turned into one of the biggest lessons of my life.

What if ALL of our children, and I mean ALL, BELIEVED that we had their backs? What if they BELIEVED that through thick and thin, no matter what they did or said, or what misstep they took, we would ALL be there for them? What if they BELIEVED we were resources and cheerleaders who would always help them? Can you imagine what life would be like if ALL children BELIEVED that ALL  the adults in their lives were there to help?

As we enter the summer months, I am making it a focus to see if I can make it so that ALL the children in my life (yes high school students - that is you too) BELIEVE that I am there, that I have their backs, and that I am their biggest cheerleader.  Why don't you try it too?