By Melissa of Beyond Mommying

There is so much hate in the world right now. So many people calling out for help. Pointing out injustices. Asking for change. The world is filled with hurt.

There is so much information being shoved in our faces through the news, social media, face-to-face interactions. So much to process and no real way to comprehend. To understand.

My head is filled with thoughts and my heart with emotions. But at the same time I am numb to it all. Not because it doesn’t matter to me. It matters deeply to me. But because I have other important things to dwell on.

My kids don’t know about Orlando. Or the Stanford rape case. Or the two-year old and the alligator. Or black men and police officers being shot in the streets. They are living their days blissfully unaware of all the hate and hurt in our world. Because that is the choice I have made for them. (I’ve talked before about the importance of maintaining their innocence.)

I have chosen to keep their hearts innocent right now. To keep the hate and violence away from their eyes and ears. I am not ignoring it or pretending it didn’t happen. I’m simply choosing to address it a different way.

Rather than showing them the hate and hurt in their world, I’m teaching them love, compassion and kindness for all. I’m teaching them to be good, caring people instead of showing them the hateful and horrible people in our world.

I could spend my entire day reading things on the internet about all these tragedies. I could certainly get down and depressed about it all (and internally, I am) but what good will that do? I have enough going on in life to make things difficult. I don’t need to fill myself with more stress and worry.

Instead, I’m focusing on my kids. Making the little change that I can by doing my best to develop the next generation who will hopefully be better than mine. And today, instead of crying, worrying, feeding into the media hype, I’m doing this:

Exploring South America with my kids (you can join us here!). Learning about other people and cultures. Finding value in all people. Spending our time learning and loving rather than worrying and hating because that’s what is going to make a difference in my world.

I have chosen to love, not hate. I have chosen to teach, not dwell.

I have chosen to spend my time showing and teaching my children love and acceptance rather than dwelling on the hate and ugliness. It’s really the only thing I can do right now to make our world better.

This post originally appeared on Beyond Mommying.

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About the Author

Melissa is a homeschooling, ballerina mommy of four and lives by the motto “Life is never boring when you’re never alone, but I know somewhere out there, there is life Beyond Mommying.”  She shares her parenting adventures on her blog Beyond Mommying. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.