What kind of balloon will you hand your child today? What balloon will you give your inner child?
The childhood programming balloons I was given were demeaning, abusive, manipulative,etc which created a constant environment of uncertainty and a foundation of lack of worth.
My parents were married for just a few short years…
But continued to be verbally abusive to one another and constantly complaining to ME–a child–about what they hated about the other person.
Everytime my father would say derogatory remarks about my mom and vice versa, I naturally perceived this to be about me. Each complaint they made was a direct reflection about who I was.
Children think in concrete terms due to brain development. Children believe they are an extension of their parents. If one parent is trashing the other, the child takes it in deeply–to the core of their worth.
I recently had a friend tell me I was cherished. I was stunned because I had never heard or witnessed my parents or any adult say this, especially not to me. I had to look up the word Cherish to really know what it meant.

So today the Balloon I give to my child is how much I cherish her father. You are cherished
Mr. Perez.