These Two Words Changed How I Respond When My Kids Are Upset

In 2004 my son suffered a very traumatic burn injury. He was seven at the time. In an instant our family was propelled into an alternate universe. For the next month Bridgeport Hospital’s burn unit would become our new home base. Friends and relatives poured in to help keep us afloat. Calls and letters came not only from people we knew but from strangers as the incident was big news in our small town.

Small town life can be both a blessing and a curse in such times. While the help neighbors a...