I loved "Gulliver’s Travels" when I was little. More accurately, I loved the illustrations. The tiny little people crawling all over Gulliver just delighted me.
In the book, the author, Jonathan Swift, tells of a man who finds himself in strange lands—sometimes towering over those around him, other times feeling impossibly small. Gulliver was trying to figure out the rules for each new situation.
Childhood can be just as bewildering. NPR recently shared a newsletter titled, “Being — and raising — a kid has never been tougher. Here's what they're up against.” Our world is very complicated for a healthy, nurtured, developing brain.
For children hurt through trauma or facing mental health challenges, the complexity is overwhelming. They often feel exactly like Gulliver: one day you’re the “giant” of the playground, the next day you feel tiny, tangled up in worries bigger than you are. They can feel trapped in a land where the problems are giants or the expectations are ropes tying them down. To them, a simple math test can feel like an epic battle, and a hallway whisper can sound like a royal decree. Just as Gulliver needed guides and companions who understood the strange worlds he entered, these precious children need caring adults, therapists, teachers, and communities to help them navigate their own environments and their healing.
At Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, we’re giving kids the support to see their world differently—not as a land of giants or a place where they’re too small to matter, but as a place where they are safe, supported, and capable of growth. We don’t promise to shrink their problems with a magic potion or fend off pirates with a single rope, but we can promise to walk beside them until the strange lands don’t feel so strange anymore.
Together, we can make sure no child feels lost in a story that’s too big for them.
Please keep the children and staff of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in your prayers.
In His love,
Joy Ryan, President/CEO
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch
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