When my mom was nearing the end of her cancer battle, hospice came to our home to discuss the end-of-life process.
I asked my son to go into the other room because it was a conversation that I did not think an eight-year-old should hear.
After our talk, I looked into the room where my son was. While the grown-ups were talking, my son was creating.
He took a group of chairs and placed them in a circle, and then he took yarn and threaded it through all the chairs to make a giant web.
In the middle of the web were four pieces of paper, each had a letter, L, O, V, E.
My son looked at us and said, “this is what cancer is. LOVE”.
We all stood silent.
Shielding those closest to us from the pain does not make it disappear. My son understood more than we thought he did.
He loved his grandmother with all his heart.
We shut kids out of conversations when we should include them.
When they glance at the television or overhear a conversation, the world is happening.
Issues such as Cancer and War are not easy to approach, but conversations with our kids about what we can do to continue to make our world beautiful through being kind, mindful, and loving.
I read a book to my class, “The Invisible Web.” It is about connections. People we meet, places we go, memories we have. We are all connected through an invisible web. Some things we remember, and some we forget.
All our connections teach us life lessons.
Our web reaches farther than we imagine.
My son’s web was his way of expressing his love for the loss of his grandmother.
Kids understand so much, and they are so intelligent. It is incredible.
What will you weave on your web?
6 Responses
This is a beautiful post. Kids are so much aware than we give them credit for. We can all learn a lot from them 🙂
From teaching little ones for so many years I have learned that they have a heart-felt innocent view of our world. They see and understand more than we know. When we talk with a kind truth they will be able to understand so much more. They are our future.
I have a son who is about to turn 8. I think I needed to read this as a reminder that I don’t have to keep upsetting things away from him all the time.
I learned a long time ago if they don’t hear it from us they will hear it from someone else. Kids can understand so much. It may take time for them to process. Sometimes they help us understand things better when we listen to their point of view. Never underestimate how amazing an 8-year-old can be. Thank you for reading my post.
This is truly touching. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your kind words.
Suzanne