Five years old

This morning my sister and I were discussing the sad story of a young woman. This YW had been so severely abused in the first five years of her life (that's how old she was when she was removed from her home) that she may never recover emotionally. Her actions are constantly reinforcing the way she was taught by her abusers.

Her story really disturbed me and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I guess because Damen will be five this year and it got me thinking. If the rest of his life is based on things he's learned in these first five years, what will he take from them? Both positive and negative things I'm sure, and things that will be almost impossible to change. We are such a force for good and for bad in our children, do we see that every day? Do we think about the impact we're having? We have loved and nurtured Damen, but it's probably the things we didn't intend to teach him that we'll wonder about.