I have 4 young kids, 3 so far with Lyme and coinfection diagnoses, but as you can probably guess by now, we don’t live defined by that. We live healed and whole and when we’re down and out, or going through a rough patch, we work on promoting even greater healing through that experience.
For a long time I was mad & guilty that my kids had to go through even thinking about things related to their health as a necessity for their survival. I didn’t want their diet or supplement regimen or other choices throughout their childhoods to matter so significantly. But the bottom line is that EVERYONE is on a healing journey, whether diagnosed with something or not.
I started to realize that they were simply learning how to heal, stay healthy, and live their best lives at a young age instead of learning later in life, or worse yet, never learning these skills/necessities at all!
So I’m here to share some surprising benefits I've found walking alongside my kiddos as they embrace and enjoy their healing journeys.
First, I see them embracing the opportunity to learn compassion from a young age.. While I don’t ever ever raise them as “sick kids fighting illnesses,” we DO raise them to understand that EVERYONE has a health journey and it deserves to be honored and not put down, degraded, gossiped about, etc. Their journey is something they are PROUD of.
They also realize the supplements and stricter way of eating and other health practices we adhere to have a PURPOSE. They might hate taking supplements some days, or turning down Oreos or birthday cake at a friend’s party, but they know (and see and feel) that these practices are helping them. They are also “in it” with others that need to take supplements or meds for their health daily, including me, their mom.
They understand how feeling yucky physically, mentally, or emotionally can manifest in LOTS of behavioral ways and I can say that I see tons of grace coming from them as they interact with a broken and healing world around them.
They also have already developed a unique understanding of their own body. Yes, they are still children. But they are SHOCKINGLY in tune with their bodies, emotions, and mental health. This is partly something we have worked to cultivate in our home, and also something we have very much missed the mark on cultivating well at times. But even in our imperfect parenting, through their own journeys these little people are learning more than I ever knew at their ages about how their bodies, minds, and spirits were made and designed to work, AND how to manage, fight back, and heal when they are a little off kilter.
As a family, we have seen collectively our health journeys provide a significant reason to prioritize rest, and honor a schedule/rhythm that promotes healing over productivity or accomplishments. We all say “no thank you” to pushing ourselves excessively or the mentality of “pushing through” over respecting our bodies, minds, and spirits. It’s also why we choose things like homeschooling, homesteading in suburbia, etc. My kids know what feeling crummy and feeling good both feel like and how to honor their body because we cultivate a schedule where they CAN do just that. They can sleep however much they need to. They have access to nutrition to the max. They are allowed “off days” or whatever healing time they need to take.
Perhaps it’s selfish, but I also recognize how well my kids can relate to ME on levels that are super hero worthy. THEY inspire me. THEY encourage me. THEY know what I am going through without having to speak about it. There’s nothing more humbling and inspiring than watching your kiddos see through you hiding how you’re feeling from them because they already KNOW you’re fighting too. And that level of compassion is from Jesus himself. May my babies never know differently. And may THEY always be seen and known the way they see and know others.
Jesus talks about kids so reverently in the Bible, and the longer I’m a parent the more I realize why. These babies are here to teach us if we are willing to just watch, listen, and learn. If THEY can enjoy & embrace their healing journeys, then by golly, so can I. So can WE.
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