Guarding our children’s hearts and being their safe place

A couple of weeks ago, my son had a special grandparents’ celebration at school. It happened to coincide with the book fair going on. So, his grandparents were easily persuaded into making some purchases for him. One of the things he came home with was a Pokemon journal that actually locks with tiny keys. The journal came with two keys.

He busied himself with opening it after school and was quite excited. Then he came over to me with one of the keys. He told me he’d keep one key and I could have one key because he trusted me to read his private thoughts. My heart melted. Of course, I put the key promptly on my keyring.

My son is 6-1/2. As a first grader, he may end up drawing in the journal, writing a bit and not doing much else with it. But that isn’t what matters. What matters to me is that he trusts me with his private thoughts.

His trust struck me right in the heart. I may not always be a perfect mom and I definitely have my struggles and shortcomings; however, knowing that my son trusts me with his private thoughts makes me think I’ve done something correctly.

Lots of things are important to me as a mom, but being a safe place for my kiddos is one of my top priorities. I want them to always feel safe and secure with my husband and me. I want them to know that if they have worries or concerns they can come to us. I want them to be excited to share good news with us. I want them to be able to trust us with their hearts.

I have a responsibility to my children to safeguard their private thoughts and concerns. I don’t want to share something they told me in private with other people or post about them on my blog or social media accounts. I don’t want my kids to worry that their private thoughts won’t stay private with me.

Right now they’re 6-1/2 and (almost) 10. Their concerns and problems are age appropriate ones, which means that sometimes I find their concerns and problems adorable even. But I am careful to not laugh at them, dismiss them or even share what they’ve told me in confidence with others. One of these days, their problems and concerns are going to be bigger, and I want them to know they can trust me and come to me to talk any time about anything.

So for now, I will keep the key to my son’s private journal on my keyring. I don’t plan on removing it. I’m sure it will be on there long after we’ve forgotten which journal it even goes to, but it will remind me that my children need to be able to trust me with their private thoughts and how much I need to respect that trust.