There is no one more sympathetic to your plight than a toddler.
It has been a tough week around here. We have been dealing with some family drama as of late and if I am being truly honest, it has been a rough couple of months.
Try as I might to not cry in front of my sweet daughter, there are days when the tears overtake me and I am forced to let her see me suffer.
These in my opinion are some of the toughest parenting moments. They are your child's first inkling into realizing of their parent's humanity. Our children look to us as super heroes and it is not until life goes on that they realize we are just as human and fragile as they are.
One day they will embrace that humanity and relish the comrodity of it but when they are younger seeing their parents in a vulnerable state can be downright scary.
However, it was in this last few, hard days when the tears chose when to fall for themselves that I realized the beauty of my daughter's sympathy. Children, especially toddlers, are by far the most sympathetic people in our lives. When I cry, she cries not understanding why. In that moment she is too young and our communication too limited, the emotions too complex to convey to her why I hurt so instead of grasping for understanding she chooses to simply hurt for me.
When is the last time you truly hurt for someone? I can think of only a handful of times that I was so sympathetic as my daughter to someone else's plight. True that is not always what people need either, but how wonderful to be able to sit there in the moment of despair and be able to truly feel for someone.
I still don't plan on making it a habit of crying in front of my sweet girl. I do plan though to make a habit of trying to embrace the level of sympathy she has and to better be there for my friends and loved ones when they are in pain.
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