BECOMING a parent is an emotional experience. Being left alone, unsupervised, with this tiny little person for the first time is something many parents will remember forever.
Parenthood arrives with a swirl of emotions, from joy and overwhelming love, to the brief, fleeting moments of fear that this ultimate responsibility brings.
As parents, we grow with our children. We learn together, we share their triumphs and challenges together.
We tackle each milestone in their lives, however large or small, together.
Parenthood brings many challenges. One is to raise your children safely and under your protection, knowing that one day you’ll have to allow them to step freely into the world as responsible adults.
So, the day our children first ask if they can go out alone to watch a concert or attend a big event is a huge moment for us all – a moment of clashing and contrasting emotions.
We all remember the excitement of our own first concert or gig. The hours spent plotting and planning with our friends from weeks in advance.
Intricately detailing our travel plans. Agreeing in advance the clothes we’ll all wear as we attempt to strike the perfect balance between fitting in and standing out. We remember the wave of excitement when the tickets arrived, the chatter in the car and bus as you finally embark, and the opening chords of the act’s first song before the adoring audience. For most of us it’s a landmark, being free to sing, dance and even scream at our idols in a magical moment that we’ll remember forever.
Sadly, each of those children who went to watch their idol in Manchester on Monday evening will have such different, tragic memories.
As a parent of two young Ariana Grande fans, as I sat and watched Monday night’s horrific events unfold on TV, I felt that familiar wave of fear wash over me.
However, I couldn’t possibly even begin to imagine the anguish felt by the parents I watched as they were put in the dreadful position of having to make public pleas for information, any information, on their missing loved ones. The same parents, whose love allowed them to grant permission for their children to grow and find their feet in the world, outside the safety of their arms. Watching them from hundreds of miles away was almost too hard to bear. I had no words.
So, when our children come to us today and ask us for the same opportunities, how should we respond, now this boundless evil has been revealed to the world? How can we let go of our loved ones after witnessing these the lengths to which these barbaric monsters will go? How can we overcome the fear that we all have of letting go?
I suppose that we must seek some solace from the fact that from the very worst of circumstances, the very best of humanity shone through. While the innocents sought cover, police officers, ambulance crews and rescue workers ran towards the danger, putting their safety on the line, as they always do, to help and protect strangers. Nurses and doctors rushed to the scene. Bystanders opened their doors to those in need, and taxi drivers ferried the those caught up in the tragedy to safety.
In the face of unspeakable evil, men and women, young and old, those of all faiths and those of none, came together in an act of collective humanity.
It is this solidarity, this network of love, which will defeat the hatefulness at the root of this criminal, terrorist act.
Over the days and weeks ahead, our job as parents and carers will continue. We need to provide love and reassurance, even though we have questions ourselves. We need to be open and honest, even though we want to curl up with our arms around our children and never let go.
Despite all our natural instincts, we need to continue to prepare them for the life that lies ahead, not hide them away from the outside world, wrapped in cotton wool.
Through the emotional numbness of today, let’s remember to continue to hold our children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren close. Show them the love which surrounds them, and the hope that you have, not only for them, but also the world around us.
And let’s do our best to equip them with the tools we all need for hope to conquer hate, and to build a better, more peaceful world for us all, today and into the future.
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