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PHOTO: NORTHOVER PHOTOGRAPHY
EDITOR’S NOTE
Crystal Murray, Editor in Chief
Our Children Magazine
@OurChildrenMag www
ourchildrenmagazine.ca
crystalmurray@ advocateprinting.com
www
There is always the line between truth and the preservation of innocence and truth www
www
The trust fund
Being honest with your kids is a great investment
I
’ve been a mom for almost 26 years. With four kids, one with a chronic illness, let’s just say that I have sought out a lot of advice in the last 2.5 decades. From listening to experts on CDs while driving the minivan after I dropped the brood off to school, to niche publications like this and eventually blogs and podcasts from many different walks of life expounding on their approaches to the nouveau nurturing style, the one little nugget that always resonated through all my children’s developmental stages was the good old fashioned, sage advice to just be honest: tell the truth. The way we share the truth is different at every stage of development. The truth I share with my children today is delivered differently than the truth when they were in elementary school. There is always the line between truth and the preservation of innocence and truth, and protection from fear. In a world where honesty is becoming less of the norm, misinformation and mistruths have become dangerous contagions. Social media even in the hands of the very young has a veneer of deception. Even as adults, the things that we have always believed because that’s what we were taught left me doubting if we are ever completely honest. Our perceptions shape our beliefs. Is my truth as a parent really, “the truth?” Parenting during the pandemic has slipped to the absurd. How do you even find the right words to explain what’s happening in their world? It’s not as easy as it used to be to shield kids from the scary
bits. There is a mounting division on social media, where truth starts to circle the drain and opinion clouds reality. This is where you can start to debate truth as a value or truth as a goal. They’re two different things. In this issue, we tackle a few different features where our personal truths and trust in oneself weave in and out of the stories. We begin with “Pursuing passions” on page 10, where we meet two parents who believe they reveal their true selves to their children with their evolving interests. In “Panicked by the poke,” page 12, we learn how speaking honestly to our children can help them overcome their fear of needles. In “The job I really wanted,” page 14, Halifax mom Andrea Ewer writes a personal essay on how she reconciled with her decision to give up a dream for a full-time teaching position to spend her days with her two young children. In “Scaling new heights,” page 18, we get a lesson from hiking and outdoor family fun advocate, Trish Joudrey on how testing our agility in the outdoors connects to trusting our abilities. Halifax Chef Andrew Farrell trusts the evidence that kids love to dip their foods in “Little dippers,” page 16, and we wrap it all up with a sweet story on page 21 from regular columnist Jill Chapell, who tells us about a fluffy new addition to her home — trust me, it will melt your heart.
