moiracolleenodell:

just-shower-thoughts:

Babies cry over little things, because everything bad that happens to them, is literally the worst thing that’s ever happened.

People so often forget this sort of thing about children, and I don’t just mean the really young ones.

I remember several years ago there was a mining disaster some distance north of my home, and my mother, who teaches middle school math, came home so annoyed with her students because they were reacting so strongly to it. She kept talking to me about how this is terrible, certainly, but it’s also a fact of life in mining, and always has been, that deadly accidents happen from time to time. 

I waited and listened quietly until she said something to the effect of “you’d think this was the first time a mine disaster ever happened.”

Then I chimed in, in a tone that suggested agreement, “Yeah, you’d think something like this had never happened during their lifetime.”

That brought her up short. 

In the moment of silent reflection, I went on, ”You’d think they were children who probably have relatives who work in mines, and who may have seen a bit on the news about mining disasters in places like China; but now they’ve suddenly discovered that things like that happen here in America, and not so very far away from where they live. You’d think they had a reason to be upset and afraid.”

Don’t dismiss it out of hand when kids get upset about something. It may seem trivial or grievous but commonplace to an adult, but it may legitimately be the worst thing that has ever happened in the children’s lives, and our job is not to delegitimize their distress.

And sometimes, they have a really valid point. Children cry because things are distressing, and their crying is a reminder that while adults have become used to things being what they are, that doesn’t mean that they should necessarily stay that way.