Hello guys, how are you all doing? It's Friday again, and most of us get to rest from the long week which is from this night till Sunday before we head back to work on Monday. However, some people still work on weekends; shoutout to you guys, sending you love and light to stay strong.
Kids are also part of the family, and we have seen parents who don't hide their struggles from their kids, while others do the opposite. Which is right, and why? At what age should parents expose their children to the family struggle?
I hadn't really thought about this whole concept of whether or not to let children in on the struggles of the parents until I watched a movie that changed the narrative for me.
In this part of the world where I come from, most parents tend to keep away their struggles away from their kids, in a bid to protect them and wanting them to have a good life, some of these parents even die in their process, while the children keep living the lives that their parents have carved out for them, oblivious to the struggles of their parents.
The movie I talked about earlier is titled 'Unsung Heroes'. In this movie, the father/husband was doing very well in the music industry, he was some sort of promoter for musicians, helping them make their music reach a wider audience. He did this consistently for years, he became a known name in the industry.
On the other hand, his wife was more of a housewife, keeping the home together. They had a total of six children. At some point, David (the father) made a wrong business deal and lost everything he had. The funny thing was that his wife warned him against the deal but he kept convincing her that the deal was a good one until she finally had to let him go ahead.
Upon losing most of what they had, he had nothing to carry on with his business, so he called an associate in the United States (they were from Australia and lived there), so the associate promised a gig in the United States that came with a house, when he told his wife about it she wasn't having it because their whole life was in Australia and he wanted them to move and start over and she has just discovered that she was pregnant.
She finally had to succumb to his request, but she told him two years, if nothing happened within that time, they'd return back.
Upon getting to the United States, not only did the deal not pull through, but the apartment the associate had secured for them was empty, like bare, not a single piece of furniture was inside, and they had nothing on them to begin to get any furniture.
That night, they had to spread their clothes to sleep. The next day, while they were eating,the wife told the husband that they had to tell the kids what was going on, he agreed, and he tried telling them with sugar-coated words, but the wife had to step in and tell them in words they could understand that they had no money as a family. That they wouldn't be able to get the stuff they ordinarily had access to before and that they needed to work together as a family and also pray to God to help them get by.
The children understood the situation and began helping out as much as they could, the older ones with their dad began cleaning lawns for people and getting paid, and they were able to buy stuff for their basic needs.
Long story short, they all had to work together, both the children and the parents until they were able to stand on their feet again, and this happened because the parents made the children aware of the situation of the family. Imagine if they didn't explain to them the situation on ground, the children wouldn't have understood what was going on, and being kids they would have kept making outrageous demands that their parents wouldn’t have been able to meet, and their parents inability to meet up with their demands would lead to these kids thinking their parents were being wicked to them or didn’t love them enough to do certain things for them.
So I think children should be carried along in decision making in the family, in periods when the family is struggling, explain to them in age-appropriate words, after all, they are part of the family and should be involved in the going on's in the family. In my opinion, it would even foster some sort of togetherness and belonging.
If you have a different opinion, I would love to read it in the comment section.
Thanks for stopping by ❤