Just because

 Just because I went through it doesn’t mean my kid has to.

I won’t use my past as a blueprint for their future.
I won’t call it “character building” when really, it was just pain no one helped me process.
I won’t tell them “life’s not fair” as an excuse to let them hurt the same way I did.

I want better for them.
More understanding.
More safety.
More room to be themselves.

So I’ll break the cycle.
I’ll be the soft place I never had.
I’ll choose healing, even when it’s hard,
Because they deserve a childhood they don’t have to recover from.

Not here.
Not in this home.
It ends with me.