I had never though of myself as being particularly oversensitive (or insensitive for that matter), but parenthood has definitely made me more sensitive, especially when I hear about children suffering. Adam says it happened to him too, so I'm guess it's something most parents go through.
There have been multiple child abuse stores in the news. There have been a couple where the baby that was abused and/or killed was around Brayden's age- those really got to me. Anything having to do with shaken baby syndrome gets me teary-eyed immediately.
I cried when a contestant on The Biggest Loser told her story about her husband and children dying.
SIDS stories scare me to death. I am so paranoid about him while he's asleep. If I'm awake, I'm checking him every 15 minutes or so.
Seeing footage of children and babies in Haiti seriously made me want to adopt. I'm not a perfect parent, we are by no means rich, but seeing what they have been left with made me so sad.
And just last night, I was watching an episode from the first season of House, M.D. I heard it was a good show, so I got it from my library. Well, about 3 episodes in, 4 babies in the maternity ward all get sick at about the same time, and House sets about solving the mystery. I cried when a baby was strapped down for a MRI, and I cried when one of the babies died and the news was broken to the parents. And the show isn't even real!
Sometimes I wonder why I even watch the news anymore. If any story is told that involves a child's suffering or death, I wind up a blubbering mess.
4 comments:
Megan, I am sorry to tell you that hasn't gone away for me. I have to build up walls in my head and try to avoid stories about children being hurt so I'm not a basket case all day long.
When Carter was just over a year old, there was a baby near Price, just the same age, who was washed out of his family's truck in a freak flash flood. They never found him. I was in AGONY, a blubbering mess for days, thinking of that poor baby dying horribly and all alone. I cried for his mom, too. I was inconsolable. Randy was on the verge of taking me down there on his day off so we could join one of the search parties, just so I could feel better. It's awful to feel the suffereing of children so deeply, but I think it's necessary in order to understand the weight of motherhood and our responsibility toward our kids. (Not just our own...kids in general.)
It hasn't gone away for me either, but I think that sensitivity helps me be a better parent and a better human being. There are so many times I "just know" something about one of my kids that has really helped. However, I can't watch the news like I used to. It can break my heart.
I don't have any kids, but whenever I hear these stories it makes me cry or get teary eyed as well. It makes me angry when people abuse their children and take them for granted, especially when there are other people that cannot have children and would make loving parents. I'll never understand how someone could abuse a helpless baby/child.
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