Kids & Parenting

The Colour Yellow Part 2

by Janice S Ramkissoon 
02/02/18
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I’m finding out a lot about myself simply answering the call to be a ‘Stay-at-home-Mum’. Taking time out to reflect on the question my son often asks [see part 1] gave me more answers than I was actually searching for at that point. Nevertheless, as I tunnelled through my thoughts and penned what flowed, I found the pieces of the puzzle slotting nicely into place. Being still and waiting on God’s timing has been the key lesson on this journey. I was ready to receive the answers to my prayers.

“He may not come when you want Him but He’s always on time,” are the words of a song I have on a CD and surely I have proven that on this journey.

In school I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I remember saying a doctor/nurse, a teacher (of English and Religious Education) and an Evangelist. I don’t know whether or not I had put much thought into that or those were the only professions I knew anything about why they were the three I mentioned. Nevertheless, I realise that Ambulances have been a regular feature on my journey. Yes, the ones I’m used to seeing also have the colour ‘yellow’. I looked up to see one passing earlier as I typed this piece and remembered the incidents and fatalities that causes me to stop and look outside myself in order to be an instrument of healing. This is what came to me:

The yellow in my world directs me to ‘The Light’ that shines so brightly, giving me the courage to shine in dark places. The yellow in my world is The Bread of life that I feed on daily so I can overcome the fear and boldly speak out against the injustice, speaking for the voiceless in my world, being an advocate for healthy relationships.

As I pen these words I am voicing the needs of:

1. The young couple who desire to get started on the right path, despite their turbulent upbringing, but have no guidance. Highlighting to those couples and their care-givers, the need for pre-marital counselling, pre-parental counselling before their relationship become intimate and before they bring a child into the world without any thought for the kind of environment needed for children to thrive in;


2. The young parents in need of guidance in understanding the need to train up a child in the way he/she should go, not using the same yard stick to measure each of them, hence removing the need to compare one child to the other;


3. The motherless and/or fatherless children who cannot put into words what they are feeling or understand why they are stuck in the anger zone;


4. The single mother left to care for her child/ren, having nowhere to turn for the long-term support needed to grow in her role as a mother while grieving the loss of companionship or the abuse/violation of her body or mind and no pathway to healing;


5. The single father who just cannot heal from the loss of his partner or regrets of past mistakes and therefore cannot fully father the child/ren in his care;


6. The rapist now longing for forgiveness but afraid to make the first move because society has made it clear that he is already tried and convicted, securely locked behind bars with no chance of release;


7. The child who sits at home waiting for mother or father to come home but work or some other ‘important’ activity has long occupied that time and that child silently weeps inside, longing to feel important, to feel like they belong or that they are special. They sometimes hear, “I love you!” but they don’t feel loved because to them love is spelt, ‘TIME’—they want quality time with their Mum and Dad or whichever parent they are left with;


8. The parent or child overcome by guilt, shame and regrets defaulting to a self-pity/condemning mode and travelling the path of self-destruction with no one to guide them back on the path of emotional, spiritual and mental well-being (through the process of release called forgiveness);


9. The family struggling to get it right, to do right by each other (husband and wife, father and mother, parents and children, mother and daughter or daughter-in-law, father and son or son-in-law… understanding the art of bringing two sides together through marriage) but having no concept of what that looks like. They need help in parental skills, anger management, conflict resolution, time and financial management, maintenance of the different, developing relationships etc.  


10. The grandparent(s) living in regret from the mistakes of the past that presents a road block to enjoyment in retirement because they too lacked the necessary training needed before they became parents. It’s a revolving cycle for the majority in my world.

They are all crying out for help but it would appear that no one cares or has the knowledge of what to do to help. I’ve grown to understand that there are many who truly care about the well-being of these hurting souls, but they too simply do not know what to do to help or how they can help. They do not have the necessary skills to do the training that’s needed or they do have the skills but haven’t had the opportunity to utilise those skills. It’s a revolving cycle which will continue to rotate until someone is willing to do what is necessary to break that destructive cycle.

Is that someone you?

Please join me in the final part of 'The Colour Yellow’.