Today's blog comes from a very raw place. Authenticity is the thread that connects us to our passion and purpose. It begins to weave the masterpiece that we were each designed to be.
I promised reality, connection, and care on this journey and I am resolved to do just that. The nurse that I was is who I will forever be. I will stand in the gap for others and help the next generation find purpose and love.
I know first hand that kids, teens, and even adults are hurting.
Each time I share a piece of my story, I hope it will help motivate and encourage you to dig a little deeper and find your inner spark and help your kids/teens find their inner greatness!
I'm no expert, definitely flawed. But if a spider can design these intricate pieces of art made of silk with the strength of steel, I can only imagine the masterpiece that lies right within our fingertips.
Here are 5 ways to help your kids and teens visualize the web they are weaving, learn to sense the impending prey at the first sway of the web, and provide the support they need to build silk webs with the strength of steel.
1. Help them see silk instead of threads.
I am pretty certain that each of us can relate to the analogy of the webs we weave in life. Some grow quite elaborate, some barely make it past the first thread, and others are torn apart abruptly and require many sleepless nights and days to rebuild.
After examining the intricate details of the spider's web, it becomes a valuable teaching tool for children and teens showing the strength yet complexity of what looks like just "threads."
Spider webs can be stronger than steel. They protect the spider from the prey, supply the spider's food source, and can even be cut in seconds to prevent imminent danger to the spider.
Our kid's inner webs do much of the same. These newborn webs they are weaving are still fragile and when allowed to be fed with the wrong nutrients and not aware of real prey, they soon find themselves rebuilding their webs over and over.
However, if we can help them see the silk that even they can produce, the strength they can build, and the destiny they can fulfill with the right threads, our kids will soon be on their way to their masterpiece.
So if your teen is hanging on by only a thread, remind them today of their fabric - silk.
2. Teach them to know when to call a code or cut the line.
There is nothing worse than walking into a spider web in the pitch-black night. It takes just the tiniest touch and it has you flapping your arms and running in the opposite direction. One little "thread" can cause that chain of reaction.
Which is kinda like the web of life...
One bad friend, one stupid mistake, and your sent scrambling and reacting to one single thread that's shaking your entire web. You begin to wobble and watch years of hard work go down the drain.
As we age, we begin to see the power behind the large web we weave. We become better at honing in on the impending dangers.
However, teaching the next generation these instincts is only learned once they are dropped into the swinging web.
In nursing, we are taught the importance of planning for the code. We train, memorize the algorithms, and become keenly aware of even the tiniest changes (vibrations) in our patient's condition. We see the larger circle, sense the impending danger signs, and master the art of connecting each layer long before the code is called.
Envision yourself as the spider in the middle with the inborn ability to sense vibrations. The spider knows when the prey is moving the web for an attack and when it is actually their intended food supply.
Spiders even know exactly when to cut the line.
If a spider can do this so precisely and beautifully, why can't we?
"The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces" - Proverbs 30:28
"As with these humble creatures, so it should be in our lives. If God has given us a vision, some great work to accomplish, let's take hold of this work with our hands and do the tasks that lie nearest. By perseverance and patient toil we too will be able to accomplish things that previously would have been seen as impossible." Emmanuel Higgins
More from this great piece below:
3. Show them how one single thread becomes a structure of steel.
Every web begins with a single thread. The spider climbs to find a place to release the first thread and releases it into the wind to form that first connection or bridge. What happens next is much like our relationships, the web begins to grow.
Recently, I had my daughters sit down at our dining room table. I asked them to create a web of their friendships, placing themselves at the center like the spider and then go layer by layer from their closest friends nearest to them and continue to build their web on paper.
I then asked them to build a web around a friendship that had turned "toxic" and begin to build a network of friends around that person as well. I was hoping to show them where their web and their toxic friend's web started to intersect and become shaky.
It is easy to identify the first layer or two of your web and your friend's web. However, it isn't until we begin building those far outer web layers that you begin to see how the neutral friends - the ones who are not exactly "prey" and are not exactly considered the inside nourishment circle- are the ones causing your web to start to wobble.
These outer layer friends are often so far out on your "web radar" that it is easy to not fully feel and understand the harm as these players weave in and out of different webs causing confusion and breeding tensions.
So today, draw your web. Teach your teens to guard their hearts by guarding their inner web circle. Help them weed out the outer layers and help them begin to build a steel web of purpose.
4. Help them find their Inner Spider-Man.
"Spiders can inspire. No wonder the world’s greatest superhero dresses in a red and blue cobweb and shoots silk from his wrists. Should we expect anything less?" Ron Carlson
Ron Carlson full article here:
Finding your inner hero is difficult. The days of shaky webs make you feel imbalanced, seeing someone stumble through your hard work depletes you, and days you do not realize the harm on the outskirts of your web can leave you blindsided and broken.
Once the web is destroyed, it's hard work to rebuild. Many sleepless nights will be needed to produce your new silk.
Weaving strong threads of unity, love, and authenticity are the required ingredients to rebuilding a web that withstands the force.
Heroes still exist. In fact, they lie right in the middle of your very own web - YOU.
"Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed."
Bob Riley
But... what happens when teens feel like they can't quite help themselves?
5. Parents, your kids may very well need you to be their Spider-Man, until their inner hero is fully developed.
There are some mean, ugly moments our kids are facing daily without parents knowing.
Teens find themselves caught in some sticky webs. Whether self-inflicted due to poor choices or mere strokes of bad luck, here are 5 things that teens really wished their parents knew.
"I cry myself to sleep at night because of bullying and hurtful relationships. My parents have no clue."
"I wish I could tell my mom or dad what I really did but I am afraid to get in trouble and they will just get angry and not understand. I am scared some of these choices are harming me."
"I wish my parents would tell me they are proud of me. I have 5 different teachers, a job, two parents, step-parents, and bullies. Most days I feel like I can't do anything right."
"My parents don't realize how bad my anxiety is and sometimes the thoughts that come to my mind."
"I just need my mom and dad to rescue me. I don't know how to get out of a bad situation even the one I know I helped create."
*Gulp*
Destruction is happening within our homes, in the hearts and minds of our kids, and we are not even feeling the vibrations within our very own web.
The broken spirit, the depleted mind, and the emotions boiling under the surface are the realities that kids are facing.
I want to protect my web. I want my girls to know I am proud of them. I want them to quiet themselves and sense even the slightest movement of the prey headed their way. I want them to know I am right behind them each step of the way.
I encourage you to get to know your kid's web. Have them write down some of the key players in their web of life. Help them connect the delicate threads. Circle the ones they need to handle with extra caution, be their spider-man, and swoop in and show them the love and direction they need today.
My daughter is my hero, her strength and courage I admire, her purpose and her calling I will help her find. And when she faces struggles and isn't sure where to turn, I'll already be behind her, helping her inner hero shine!
My Son, he is my hero, his strength and courage I admire, his purpose and his calling I will help him find. And when he faces struggles and isn't sure where to turn, I'll already be behind him, helping his inner-hero shine!
Share these with your teen today. Help them refine the art of weaving their web. They need it more than you know!
"Never tolerate disrespect or you might start believing you deserved it." Carlos el Valle
"It's never too late to be what you might have been." George Elliot
"Stay true to yourself. An original is worth more than a copy." Suzy Kassem
"The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself." Rita Mae Brown
"Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones of genius." Elbert Hubbard
"Admit your errors before someone else exaggerates them." Andrew V Mason
"Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established." Proverbs 16:3
Share this blog with a friend. Share this with your sons and daughters.
Someone desperately needs you to drop them a line/thread today!
From this mama's web to your's,
Amy
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