Don’t you wish your childhood had been perfect? Well, I don’t believe there is such a thing as a perfect childhood, but I’ve met many people who truly believed theirs was as perfect as it could be.
I asked them what made it perfect for them and they said it was their parents always seemed to listen to them, there was laughter in the home more often than not, when there was a crisis everyone rallied around and found solutions, there was never any name calling or blaming and the children always felt loved and protected.
Is that too much to ask of parents?
When a couple signs on to become parents I’m sure they remember their childhood and consider the things that made them feel unhappy and I’ve often thought, because of the dysfunctional family I had, why would anyone willingly pass on the dysfunction to their own children rather than finding ways of improving their family life?
Is it simply because most families are struggling just to survive?
Is it because they didn’t have a role model family to emulate?
Is it more prevalent with low income families?
Maybe it’s a combination of all three, but I do know that laughter heals many wounds where children are concerned.
All it takes is making a funny face, stopping to tickle them gently, hug them and blow air into their ears, just simple little things to make a child understand they are loved.