Many people say that a person may lack common sense. Usually this statement is said when something that seems so simple for a community of people is misunderstood, or lacking for a person who has never been shown. For Example:
A woman who comes in needing help tying her daughters shoes. Tying shoes? Really? However no one knows this young mother has come from a life of neglect and trauma. No one knows that she didn't get freedom until she was an adult. No one knew that she wasn't given shoes until she left the abuse. People might say that's impossible, I can tell you it's true.
The woman who doesn't know how to file taxes,
The one who doesn't know how to do hair,
The one who has never cooked or even made a pb and j sandwich
The one who doesn't know how to properly take care of her cycle or why it even happens
The ones who don't know how to raise a child, because they were not properly raised themselves.
The ones who don't know how to live outside of abuse because no one ever told them they were worth more.
The ones who struggle to leave drugs, because it is the only peace they've known.
The ones who return to abuse for love, because it is the only love they've felt.
Common Sense, isn't common sense if the common reality, you come from, does not match the common reality someone else comes from.
Here at Acres of Hope, we have figured that out.
At Acres we get to see what the world calls common sense, is not the reality for thrivers and survivors of life's hardknocks. You might look at them and think this is common sense, Yet from their viewpoint they might say the same about you, in the cases of their reality.
Common Sense is defined as- good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.
These Moms have gone through the School of the Hard Knocks, their practical hasn't been the same as someone going through life with healthy relationships, stability, and strong support. It is now they are learning about the common world outside of the life of abuse, neglect, drugs, homelessness, and a lack of love. So sometime soon what we call common sense, they too will be able to say the same.