Beacon of Light

Little one, you don’t know what lurks behind every turn

Your mind has been poisoned

Dark thoughts beget dark thoughts

Speak your truth, be your loving self

Cast your light

A flashlight in a room casts upon four walls

A beacon casts light upon thousands

The internet for many is the chance to be a beacon

Little one, ensure your light spreads love and positive thinking

Positive thoughts creates positive content

Attract light by sending light

Darkness stumbles into more darkness

The blind stay blind

Little one, open your eyes and let light and love in

Be the change. Be the hope. Be the light.

Lead the way

When our children stumble it’s hard as a parent not to think we failed them in some way. My 12 year old is a very creative soul. Her abilities astonish and impress me. A self taught video / content creator—I’ve enjoyed watching her discover and develop this particular passion.

Recently, I also discovered questionable content on her social media page. I don’t profess to having perfect children but I’ll admit I was taken aback. The general negativity made me angry and simultaneously sad. What happened?

When confronted she claimed she was just following trends and using popular sound bites to create content. I expressed my disappointment and said that what is popular is not always the right thing. My first instinctual thought was to take her phone away and pull her off all social media. Although that is not off the table completely—I wanted to teach her how to navigate through the wave of information that comes her way each day.

It’s no different than grounding a child and keeping them from the outside world, but what good would that do? The internet is their new world so eliminating the threat is nearly impossible.

She expressed remorse and agreed to take down what I thought was inappropriate. For the rest, I told her to review it and decide if that’s the positive light she wants to send out into the world. I talked about being a beacon of change—not to spread negativity by creating more negative thoughts through creating ‘dark’ content. I believe she received my message well.

I know she will make better choices in the future. I am certain she will choose light over darkness and be a beacon for many. The lesson was not only hers to learn but mine as well. We watch over our children when they are in the playground—we teach them not to speak to strangers—but are we as attentive when they are online? The playground just got a lot bigger, and so has the threat. As parents, we need to do what many of us did on the playground—look out for not only our own children but keep our eyes and ears open for all potential threats.