Is There A Perfect Childhood?

I am willing to bet that almost everyone you will encounter will have something negative to say about their childhood and upbringing. It is nearly impossible to find a single adult who doesn’t want to give their own children a better childhood than they themselves had.

Some of us, though, have had worse childhoods than others. This is not an article about comparing sorrowful lives. It is said that if everyone would put their troubles in a bag and all the bags would be laid out on a table for all to choose from, then each man would choose his own troubles back. No one ever knows what the next person is going through, and therefore, most people think that they have it or had it worse than they actually do or did.

My new book, Look At Me Now, describes the neglected childhood of a woman who has by now extricated herself from that quagmire and today helps many girls who are growing up with similar experiences. She recalls being helpless as a child, knowing that there was something awfully wrong but unable to do anything about it. She remembers how, as she grew older, her world looked bleak and dark, as though there was no future for her. How could one have a successful adult life when they were never taught the basics of humanity, of responsibility and of compassionate behaviors? Of right and wrong.