I have been watching this new show on A&E called The Cleaner.  Last night I was watching the episode I had recorder earlier this week when the daughter on the show said something that really got me thinking.

William (the dad) and Lula (13 year old daughter) were coming out of a store where he had just replaced her lost cell phone with a new one that had a locator in it.  She wanted to know why.  First she asked him if he was afraid she would run away like her brother did.  His answer—no.  Then she asked him if he was afraid something bad would happen to her.  This is a guy who does interventions on people who are addicted to so much that the world has to drag you down with, who sees the nastiest of the nasty, who detoxes drug addict…just the worst that humanity has to offer.

So his answer surprised me.  He told her no…he wasn’t afraid of that.

I am terrified of that.

Lullibell and Bubba and I have conversations about how most of the people they see on a daily basis would do anything to protect them.  But there are those people in the world that would hurt you as soon as look at you.  It’s just a fact of life.  I do my best to teach them how to be safe and protect themselves without frightening them but it is hard.  I want them to be safe and smart but I also want them to enjoy life as well!

I think we do an injustice to our children by not teaching them about the bad and the ugly in he world.  But where do we draw the line?  How do we teach them without scaring them?