I walked the red carpet at a very important charity with my family. John Varvatos and the Stuart House were raising money and awareness for sexually abused children. The organization offers therapy, medical assistance and other services for children and families in need of help related to traumatic events. It’s a painful, disturbing and very real subject that many people do not talk about. I was asked many thoughtful questions from the press line (rare!) and many that stayed with me for a long time.

As a mother of 4,3 being young girls, I feel an incredible sense of responsibility to protect and educate my kids. What I know is how important is to keep our lines of communication open and close. I hope they will always trust me enough to come to me if life ever makes them uncomfortable. I hope they will talk to me about friends, love, fear, confusion, and everything in between. I explained in limited detail that we were attending an event to help raise money to help abused children. That of course brought up 20 questions which I did my best buff out and answer honestly. I said that many children that get hurt need help and today we are trying to do just that.

The kids were happy to participate in the arts and crafts, and I hope they understood that by doing so, all our donations were going to a specific cause.
There are so many incredible events in our area, ones that raise respectable amounts of money. I’m always on my kids about giving back and helping in ways they can. I feel like most of it goes in one ear and out the other. But, when they watch a video, see pictures, and see a call to action, they are affected just as I am.

My girls like to donate money, even their own when they understand how it makes a difference. It warms my heart when they are generous, but even more importantly, when they take a stand to make a difference.