Smile E. Face, I want to let you in on a secret. Even parents make mistakes. But no matter what, no matter what we say, no matter what mistakes WE make. No matter what mistakes YOU kids make WE never stop loving you. WE always love you and YOU are always the most important people in the world to us. WE might not always show it. WE might not even always know it because we can be blinded by circumstances and by other people. But OUR love for our children is like breathing itself. WE just can’t live without it.
When working with kids I was mentoring my rule was to get them to rebuild their relationships with their parents. It wasn’t easy and in many cases it was a long process, but it was always the goal. (And by the way, it wasn’t difficult to love someone else’s child either. Hashem gives us that capacity to love a yiddishe neshoma, so just imagine if we could love another’s child kal v’chomer how much more so is our love for our own children?) Back to getting them to build a relationship with their parents….many times parents were just plain too stubborn to see the forest for the trees and truly acting immaturely. Many times I had to tell the kids “one of you are going to have to be the adult in this situation and it looks like it is going to have to be you”. And do you know what? The kids stepped up to the plate and made the first move to correct the situation with the parent. But once they made the first move, that was all that was needed to open the door.
Rebuilding relationships is a step by step process. But someone has to make the first step. Never doubt that Hashem loves you and that he is always by your side to help you. And never doubt that your mother loves you. No matter what. No matter the waves you ride together, no matter the arguments, no matter the circumstances. Life is not easy at times. Different families go through different and sometimes very difficult circumstances, but it is the love a parent has for a child and vice a versa that gets them through in the end.
Hatzlocha rabah!