“The greatest human need aside from food, water, and shelter is relationships.” - Justin Hacking, Clinical Supervisor at Idaho Youth Ranch.

Let’s face it - we need one another to survive. But this goes much deeper than the constructs of community and society. We need others in our lives who care about us, who listen, and who we know we can turn to when we need someone to lean on.

Do you know everything there is to know about your kids? Can any parent possibly know everything or understand their kids perfectly—100% of the time? Let’s face it, no matter how hard we try, no one is perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect parent. We’re all human, and we make mistakes sometimes. We’re also highly influenced by our own childhood experiences with our parents or primary caregivers. The ways that we were parented taught us many of our own parenting habits that we use today. Some of these habits may be beneficial for the healthy growth and development of our kids, while some may be less effective.

The ups and downs of life can be rough for both children and parents alike, especially during the current circumstances we’re faced with globally on account of the pandemic and its speculated aftermath. Life and parenting, in general, can feel extra scary right now as the future appears less certain with many possibilities at hand. This alone is enough for anyone to feel lost and in survival mode.

One of the hardest things about parenting is knowing that you can’t protect your children from everything the world will throw at them. It is very easy to hope that if you don’t talk about the difficult things, they won’t happen.