Picture this: a child steps out, slippers scraping the floor, and the last thing he carries from home is an angry face, and a sentence hurled like a stone.
How can we expect him to walk into school and shine? He’s already in pieces. When love is withheld at the door, a child’s world goes grey. Hope shrinks. Curiosity hides. Self-worth whispers, Maybe I’m the problem.
Parents, can we try something different, starting today?
Before they leave, breathe. Lower your voice. Soften your eyes. Offer one small kindness: a smile, a hand on the shoulder, a simple “I’m with you.” It costs nothing and changes everything.
We don’t send our children into a rainstorm without an umbrella. Why send them into the day without gentleness?
Let home be their safe harbor. Let our last words be the wind beneath their wings, not the weight on their backs. And if yesterday was hard, alhamdulillah for a new morning. We get to try again.
One pause. One smile. One blessing at the door.
Smile and Let Smile 