As summer ends and fall gets closer by the second we start to smell pumpkin and cinnamon everywhere and in every way possible. From drinks to candles, decorations to pies, it’s inevitable to know that change is near.

It happens every year and there is nothing we can do to stop it. We can’t run and we definitely can’t hide. Even if we aren’t ready the change will simply pass us by. So we get out the long sleeve shirts, put the shorts away, consider turning the a/c off at night, maybe even enjoy the fire pit on a late night.

So when Crystal was deciding on college and then getting prepared for that move, both Dixie and Sparkle struggled with their own emotions. They were happy for their sister but also sad that she would be gone to that country far, far away, Texas.

If only planning and preparing for that change were as easy as summer to fall or fall to winter.

What can we put away? Sadness?

What to pull out of the closet? Smiles all around?

That’s when I turned to a teddy bear. A simple bear that became a member of our family. Small in stature but a giant at heart. He was able to calm the storm, put a face there to see, a tiny shoulder to cry on, and a body to hug every night.

He has been in family pics, road trips, to every store possible, almost been forgotten and lost at times, but he always finds a way to remain.

Now that he has been with us for months and we are a couple weeks into college J Bear is being left little by little. I haven’t seen him at a restaurant in over a month and I don’t see him snuggling every night.

He may be getting lonely but I know that he greatly helped and will never be forgotten.

Our job as parents is to help our children find ways to cope with and deal with our ever changing world and society. We can’t stop time or live in a bubble! So we must find ways to help them be prepared for life.

“Why do we need to learn these things as kids and not wait until we are adults?”

My response was, and is simple.

I remember taking out the trash while my sisters did the dishes. Now that I am grown up I know that the dishes are everyones responsibility just as the garbage. As kids we learn to do one task and focus on it, but we need to see that life is greater then just one thing.

Let’s teach our kids to deal with life as they will have to live it in the future, not sheltering them from change but teaching them to walk thru it.

J Bear may have been a crutch, but crutches are only used temporarily. They’re used until our strength is built back up and we dare to live crutch free once again.

Let’s teach them to use the crutches but even more importantly to toss the crutches out as quick as possible.

Don’t hinder them, empower them!