While shopping with your child, you notice sudden fear and tears welling up in your young one's eyes.

You see what the frightened and confused child sees, a little girl with a large black hairy birthmark across most of her face.

In that moment, as a parent, you have several choices. You opt to....

.. grab your now crying child and run as far from this ghastly sight as possible!or.. take your child by the hand, embrace him, and say, "honey, there's nothing to fear. She's just a little girl"

You may be surprised by your own answer to this situation.

I have encountered this type of scenario in various places with both results and everything in between. Sadly, the more common action by the parent is to take their child and beat it, never once asking the adult who is with the little girl who has an obvious physical difference what happened to her face or never once attempting to tell their own child that compassion is an important lesson to learn from an early age, using the present situation as a teaching tool.

When did parents become so uncaring when raising our children, our future young men and women, our future leaders and teachers that we've stopped teaching our children the importance of tolerance and compassion?

 If we, the parents of young children, fail to teach that finger-pointing, whispering, name-calling and mocking are unacceptable behaviors, aren't we raising a new generation of intolerant adults lacking compassion who will in turn raise yet another generation of the same?

This must stop and as the adults, we must, consider the feelings of others and teach our babies to do the same!Just as young parents instruct children to stay away from a hot stove, or to tie their shoes, to dress themselves, to eat with a spoon, to say "please" and "thank-you" we must also teach them the basic principles of humanity

.... compassion

... loyalty

... tolerance

... gratitude

... unconditional love

... kindness

... family values

... honesty

 

Just a thought...

If you were a parent who may have been in a situation described in the beginning of this article, how did you handle it with your child?

Please share, I truly would like to know.

Author's Note: On June 18, 1999, Candace Chantel Battiste was born with a large black hairy birthmark that covered more than one third of her face.

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Life for this child was, to be quite blunt, anything but kind. Whenever Candace encountered other children they would run from her, cry, call her "ugly" and even worse names. Cruel is the word that most adequately describes the behavior by many, many small children.

Candace is the reason for my purpose-driven life. She is the bravest little girl that I have ever had the honor of knowing. She is my 8 year old granddaughter who has changed my life in incredible, blessed ways.

Please, teach our future that whenever we encounter children with physical differences to accept them without fear. It is okay to say hello, to smile, to befriend them.Your child could have been born with a similar affliction.

© 2007 Miriam L. Jacobs, Author

MyName is Not Monkey Girl

All rights reserved.No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.