One moment that always stands out in my memory was when I went to the zoo one day. This was before I had kids. After seeing so many out of control children and parents who were at their wit’s end all over the zoo, I was sitting waiting for my partner in the bathroom.
This mom and her three-four year old were walking side by side when he trips over a bump in the path, most likely from a tree root. They are fifteen feet in front of me and I am wearing my sunglasses trying not to obviously watch the scene unfold.
He looks like he is getting ready to scream and you can tell the mom is really tired. I was waiting for hysterics to occur, then the mom looks at her kid. And in a calm, steady voice, she asks him, “Are you hurt?”
Quickly the kid looks over himself and shakes his head, “No.”
She continues. “Good. I bet that was really scary though, right?” He nods. “I’m sorry that was scary. Would you like to go see the elephants now?”
Then the two leave and head toward the elephant enclosure. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I had seen so many interactions between parents and their kids that day, that one has always stuck out. That is the kind of parent I vowed that I wanted to be.
So many times I have seen parents lose their minds. I am guilty of it myself. Sometimes I wonder why they or I wanted to be parents. Then I think of that moment, that beautiful moment and center myself around it. I think I did a lot of maturing raising my children and I do think most of the time I was that way with my kids. A few times things were out of control, but I always reset and strive to be that parent. That calm, understanding parent who knew how to move their kid along to the next thing.
Mother of Trauma 
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