Elise loves her baby brother Jack. It was love at first sight.
She quickly noticed his dark hair, and said, “I hope it stays dark like mine.”
Now school has started, and whether it’s the fact that Jack’s hair is lightening or that Elise has seen so many homogenous families at her school, she sadly said to me, “Jack is going to look like you. I am the only one who looks like me.” And I remembered the wise words of a counselor (who noted how we good we are at talking but not always just sitting with Elise in her emotions), and I just said, “Yeah,” and put my arm around her and pulled her close and she snuggled in.
I’m sure the topic will resurface but for now that’s what she needed – to be pulled close by the ones that love her. So as someone who likes to fill silence with words, it is good for me to remember to pause and show my love because all my kids to feel my love as much as they need to hear it.
