There’s a haunting truth buried in the quote:
“You either face your demons, or they raise your children.”
At first glance, it feels poetic—powerful even. But read it again. It’s not just metaphor. It’s a warning.
We all carry things: anger, trauma, fear, resentment, insecurities. Things we’ve buried, ignored, minimized. But here’s the catch—what we don’t deal with doesn’t disappear. It waits. And it leaks. Into our choices, our relationships, our homes. And worst of all, into our parenting.
Children are the most sensitive barometers of unspoken pain. They watch how we fight, how we apologize (or don’t), how we cope, how we escape. They internalize what we never verbalize. And slowly, quietly, they inherit battles that were never theirs to begin with.
Your anxiety becomes their self-doubt.
Your unprocessed grief becomes their emotional shutdown.
Your short temper becomes their fear of conflict.
Your silence becomes their shame.
This isn’t about blaming yourself. It’s about waking up.
Because the demons we refuse to face don’t vanish—they evolve. And if we don’t confront them, they’ll whisper into our children’s ears, shaping their beliefs, behavior, and boundaries.
So what do we do?
We do the work.
We go to therapy.
We apologize with humility.
We model vulnerability.
We admit we’re still learning.
We choose healing, even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard.
Because healing isn’t just for you. It’s for the generations after you. It’s how we stop the cycle. It’s how we rewrite the story.
You either face your demons—or they become bedtime stories.
Let’s not pass them down like heirlooms.
Let’s bury them with intention, not neglect.
Let’s choose healing over hiding.
For ourselves.
For our children.
For the future.
What demons are asking to be faced today?
Kenrick Vaz 