February 3, 2014

Tough love often the best cure....

Tis the season....

The other day I overheard a young mother bemoaning the fact that her youngster was under the weather.  "All he needs is a whole lot of hugs and kisses," she wisely said.  

Heard from another, "I feel guilty for being happy to stay home with my sick son because he's so much fun to talk to."  Yes those were the days that I so well remember.

Yet still, nursing an ailing tot isn't all fun and games.  In fact it can be downright disheartening. It's at those times when a young one is suffering the going-around-crud, or chicken pox, or a broken bone, that a mother wishes nothing more but to trade places with her child. 

And that is the absolute truth.

It's not easy seeing your little one hurting in pain and I do not think that a parent ever outgrows that pang and sense of helplessness that accompanies those situations.  

When my boys were growing up I'll admit that I practiced the tough love shake-it-off-and-get-back-up method. That usually worked and things most often continued on its merry course.   

When my toddler's head one time met the concrete sidewalk with a wrenching thunk, I turned my own head in painful agony, trying not to let the horror inside of me show on the surface.  He was okay after some loving mother arms held him for a time and soon he was off and running once again-sporting a knot the size of a small fist on his forehead.  

His brother connected with the sharp edge of a wooden doorway once in much the same fashion several years later.  That time, in an effort to spare me the pain of seeing my injured son and the staples that were used to hold the gaping wound together, his father was the one to take him to the emergency room.

Son #1 went on to put me through one trial after another in the injury department beginning with a broken arm at the age of 14.  Legs, arms, ankles.....he ran the gambit. 

But every broken bone mends and the crud eventually goes away.   And you move on.

Tough love, there's something to be said about it. All that a parent can do is be there and be strong. A healing hug and smile is sometimes the best medicine of all.  After all, we know that life's not going to always be perfect and none of us will ever be spared the pain that comes along the path.  

You might as well grin and bear it.  Tomorrow is a brand new day after all.