Things Daughters Shouldn’t Have to Do.

A daughter shouldn’t have to convince her parents that suicide isn’t the right choice.

Shouldn’t have to hold her family together.

Shouldn’t have to stand between her father and a drawer of knives.

Shouldn’t have to be her parents’ shoulder to cry on.

Shouldn’t have to carry her family’s problems.

Shouldn’t have to calm down a mother’s nervous breakdown.

Shouldn’t have to hide in her own home.

Shouldn’t feel fatherless. Shouldn’t feel motherless.

Shouldn’t have to suffer before the age of 5.

Shouldn’t have to stay up all night listening to fights.

Shouldn’t have to dodge punches.

Shouldn’t have to call 911.

Shouldn’t have to convince herself she is loved.

Shouldn’t have to grow up so soon.

“Shouldn’t have to”… but does.

And in those moments of acceptance we find our greatest strength. We gain resilience and determination to change circumstance for the next generation.