C Word--It's All About the Children

My "C" word is children. Although, I never gave birth to any, I’ve been surrounded by them since I entered this world. I had eight brothers and sisters. I’m the baby. When you come from a clan that large you soon have oodles of nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. I lost count around twenty years ago—at fifty plus.

When people would ask me why I didn't have any children, I would jokingly reply, “I hate kids.” The truth is, I’ve spent my entire life working with those little “curtain climbers." I’ve taught, represented, tutored, counseled, and coached them. I even helped raise one son who I inherited from a relationship. He’s wonderful, but I have to give his father the credit for doing such a fabulous job. He was consistent, caring, and conscious of what was going on in his child’s world. And as a result, Bobby grew up to be a well functioning member of society. In fact he’s now an attorney—ok, so he's not perfect (and that's the part he got from me.)

Our children are our most cherished commodity. They need our protection, our love, and our direction in this crazy cosmos. I’ve seen so much heartache and pain among those little ones with my stint at juvenile court. That’s part of the reason I wrote my novel, The Advocate. It deals with a fictional juvenile court case while it delves into some of the realities of child abuse.

Life is all about the children and the joy they bring into our lives. What have you done lately to make a child’s day special? Or what has a child done that made you smile?