Black and White
When you’re a child, the world just seems…easy.
Play time. Nap time. Bedtime.
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.
Good behavior. Bad Behavior.
Noah’s going on four and a half years old. His world is slowly starting to become a bit more complex. He’s learning that bad choices bring about consequences. And consequences aren’t always fun. Just like good choices (and good behavior) bring about rewards.
Sometimes I struggle with what he sees and experiences at such a young age. When the shootings happened in Connecticut a few weeks ago, I was glued to the TV…heartbroken and upset for those poor families and those innocent children. Clinging to the media in hopes that some sort of justice was brought about and some answers were provided.
While I was watching the news, Noah heard bits and pieces of what went on that day and stopped to ask questions. I answered them as simply as I could and in the best way I knew how for his four year old mind to process. His innocence melts my heart and there was no reason to subject him to something so terrible…knowing that he’ll be witnessing horrors of all kinds the older he gets.
This parenting gig is hard. Trying to keep them young…keep them pure for as long as we can.
Protecting them from things that they don’t need to witness. Protect them from getting their heart broken. From getting their feelings hurt. From seeing that life is, unfortunately, more than just play time and bedtime.
Keep them seeing the world in shades black and white…rather than in ranges of controversial colors.
These photos are part of the monthly challenge Project 12! Each month the ladies behind Project 12 choose a theme and you are encouraged to shoot what you feel portrays that theme. This months theme was black and white. I wanted to shoot Noah in his element and capture the simplicity and the innocence of boyhood. Like I mentioned in my post above, life gets complicated the older we get but at this age, our children still just see the world for the simplicity that we know as innocence. Life in black and white…
[…] Courtney Kirkland […]
I agree that we should protect a little one from tragedies. But don’t protect him from every unpleasant thing, he needs to discover how strong he is!
The innocence that will be gone one day, that breaks my heart. I so wish we could keep a little of that in a bottle, and blow some their way when they need it.
Lovely photos, as always.
This is surely a tough one. I adore that second photo.
It is so hard…I wish I could block everything from my kids that serve to take their innocence, bit by bit. But I can’t. Sigh. I didn’t watch anything about the shooting…I couldn’t bear it and I didn’t want my kids to see.
Those pictures? Breathtaking.
When my son James was four, Haiti was hit with that massive earthquake. The news coverage was horrific and graphic, and I tried to shield him from it. One morning, I saw him re-enacting the scenes using Lego and his Little People playset. It made me realize that as much as we try to protect our kids from these things, information has a way of seeping through. It is scary, and sad – it’s not what little kids need to know about. But it is safer, at the end of the day, to give them information ourselves instead of letting them get it from other sources that we cannot control.
This is so beautiful, and so true. I LOVE that first photo.
It is hard to keep life in black and white when our kids start to age. We answer things by the seats of our pants and hope it works. It’s hard when we are clearly struck and preoccupied and sad at news/events. Our kids pick up on it. And it’s just…hard.
So true Courtney! Beautiful images
Beautiful! I’ve been meaning to link up with Project 12 too. Guess I need to pull out my DSLR.