Today my two-year-old made me cry—not from a scraped knee, but from a goodbye hug she gave a little girl at church. It reminded me that children begin life assuming people deserve kindness. This is what gentle parenting really looks like: not shielding our kids from every unkind moment, but helping them keep their softness anyway. Six months ago a stranger's cruel words tested me. My daughter let go in seconds. I held on for months. Maybe she was the one teaching me all along