Thank you! This is exactly how I feel. I can look at my nephew and know that he has delays. I see it. My daughter does not. In her eyes her (much bigger!) cousin did something to her that made her feel really small. We have talked about it and she has asked to not be around him anymore. Do I help her by doing exactly what she has stressed she does not want? Do I sit her down and explain that he has a few problems and this explains why he did what he did. And now that she knows about these problems we will just go right back to how things were before? Only she can just sit right by me at all family events if she's scared, like my mom suggested. No playing and running for her. My nephew can run and play but my daughter can just sit right by me. I can't and I won't. Right now my main concern is giving her love, consistency, and a listening ear. I was also touched as a child but I never told anyone. I would go to events and see my offender and just feel so scared. Like he knew secrets about me that I did not give him permission to know. I felt dirty.

She did the right thing. She told! I always told her if someone ever touched her to come to me and I would stop it. I will protect her. She did what she had to do to keep herself safe and now I will keep her safe so she can be seven. I will bring it up again in the future and she knows I am always here if she wants to talk but for now we are done. When she's older a little older I will explain what my nephew is dealing with and maybe we can move past this as a family. Regardless, right now I have to take sides on this one. I want my daughter to see that when shit hits the fan I am there for her and she can always come to me and I will help. In my heart I feel like I am doing the right thing.

Again, thank you so much for your post. It's hard to know what to do in this situation. That first night, the following day(Christmas!) and the days that followed were the worst of my life. I'm blindly navigating my way through this and I feel like I can't go wrong if I put my daughter first. Thank you for your understanding.