The Curiosity of a Child: Why Trauma Shouldn’t Steal Their Wonder 

There’s a moment in childhood when the world feels endless—like every inch of water, sky, and shoreline holds a secret waiting to be discovered. You can see it in the way a child leans forward on a paddleboard, eyes wide, hair dripping, scanning the clear water below as if an entire universe exists beneath the surface. Because to them, it does.

Curiosity is the language of childhood. It’s how they learn trust, joy, and confidence. It’s how they discover who they are.

But trauma… trauma has a habit of trying to take that away.
It whispers fear where there should be wonder.
It teaches caution where there should be exploration.
It plants doubt where there should be growth.

And as adults—especially those of us who know trauma firsthand—we sometimes carry that into our parenting. We worry. We hover. We brace for the worst. Not because we lack love, but because we’ve lived through the things that taught us to be afraid.

But our children deserve more than the echoes of what hurt us.

They deserve the space to chase minnows through shallow water.
To wobble on paddleboards.
To ask a thousand questions.
To believe that the world is still good.

Their curiosity is not something to protect from life—it’s something to protect for life.

Healing isn’t just something we do for ourselves.
Sometimes, it’s something we do so the next generation never has to unlearn their joy in the first place.

So today, choose wonder.
Choose messy, sandy, sunburned memories.
Choose to let them explore.
Choose to let them laugh loudly.
Choose to let them be braver than the past that tried to quiet you.

Let them grow up believing the world is worth leaning into—nose over the edge of the board, hands gripping the sides, eyes bright with possibility.

Because curiosity is how healing begins.
And our children are allowed to write a different story than the one we survived. 💛