Could be a can of worms...

Well, my three readers humored me with my last post so now I just might become a controversial blogger! There's always so much controversy in my mind I might as well let a little of it leak out. Today's issue involves broken hearts. There's a prevailing school of thought around these parts about the theory of 'courtship' vs dating. I have some feelings for it and some feelings against it, but that's a discussion for another time. Today's discussion centers around the reason for courtship that involves trying to prevent your children from getting their heart broken. This sounds good doesn't it? Who doesn't want to prevent their kid from getting hurt? There is nothing more painful than watching your kid hurt. Just since I started typing this, Jake fell off his ripstick in the neighbors' garage and is crying his head off. His spirit is bruised as much as his knee. This is hard for me to take especially when I've got a blog post on the brain and I'm a little rusty when it comes to getting the words out. But frustration aside, I still don't want to see my baby hurting! Here's the thing though, back to courtship... broken hearts don't only come from "date material". You can choose to try to protect your kid from getting hurt, but it's probably not going to work. Broken hearts can come from all kinds of places, the friends you've grown up with who've made some bad choices, the mom you've looked up to who's left her family and has a new boyfriend. People are imperfect. Life with people is full of hurt. It's hard to try to make sense of some of this stuff as adults, it's harder still when you're trying to raise your kids in the midst of it. We've boasted for years about the closeness of our community. We're raising our kids in the metaphorical village. The more people you are close to the more chance you have for love, and growth, and knowledge, and fun... and hurt. The more people you are close to the more challenging it is to react and respond and reach out when they mess up. It is a challenge for me anyway. I'm just blundering along trying to figure it out, thankfully I have my kids to help me.