Regular readers will recall that my daughter was recently diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She suffers from extreme insomnia and nightmares. Though we have tried many things in addition to her weekly therapy sessions, she is still an extremely fearful child, and nights in particular are terribly difficult for her.

While waiting at the pharmacy to pick up my older son’s medical supplies, I leafed through a parenting periodical, and found an article highlighting personal safety workshops for children and teens. While not overtly touching on topics that would instill fear in children, the workshops do cover topics like inappropriate touches, setting personal boundaries, handling bullying and teasing, as well as covering issues relevant to special populations (homeless and domestic violence shelters, etc.). The longer workshops actually cover personal self-defense moves.

Jesus calls us to “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:29), and the Scriptures further tell us that when Jesus was “reviled, He did not revile in return” (1 Peter 2:23). So, I don’t condone fighting per se. However, I thought that maybe attending one of these age-appropriate seminars might help my daughter to feel empowered, whether or not she would ever even be in a situation where she would have to choose to use the skills or not. If she feels empowered, it might translate to a more restful nighttime knowing that she could handle any situation, and not be at the mercy of the “bad men” she talks about so very often.

The next workshop falls on the day of her big homeschool choral recital and I don’t want to pile too many things on for that day ... but I also don’t want her to have multiple nightmares each night and spend any more time in absolute terror.

As the days go by, we learn more and more about the fears that hold my daughter hostage at night (and often during the day, as well). She knows that she is safe, she knows that we love her, and that God loves her. But knowing “facts” versus “feeling” it in your soul are often different things. Perception is your reality, and remains so until it is inched along to line up with what truly is reality. Helping our children gather the tools necessary to move them to this reality is the work of parenthood, and I pray my daughter will someday reconcile the demons that haunt her memories with her current reality. Until then, I am merely a mom on a mission to give her what she needs for the journey.

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A note to my readers: In yesterday’s post, I made a huge typo. I stated that I could picture Jesus yelling at His brother James, when clearly I meant I could not picture it. Spell check didn’t catch it because the error was due to a missing word, not a misspelled one. I regret and apologize for the omission.