Hello! Single selkie parent here, I was hoping you might have some resources to help me.
My pup is 7 years old now and has discovered her ability to walk on land, which is very exciting! Unfortunately, due to extremely negative past experiences on land, I don't feel safe or comfortable joining her, and even seeing her on land makes me feel anxious for her safety.
For now I watch her from the shallows with my sealskin on, and I've taught her basic safety rules, but I know she is growing curious about the world beyond the shores. Do you have any tips or resources you recommend? I don't want her to feel like she has to remain sheltered for my sake, but I do want her to be safe.
We can't imagine how hard it must be to encourage your child to explore something that brought you pain. Please believe us when we say we truly admire you for it, and we we would love to help.
You can of course request for an on-land guardian to be appointed for your child and we can help you go through the proper channels for that. But this might be a bit much for the current situation. So our first advice would be to contact the local selkie community initiative: Feet for Flippers. They're a small group, but very dedicated.
F for F organises a support group and social gatherings, but they also have a buddy program that might be interesting for you and your daughter. If there's someone among the group you find suitable, they might be matched to your daughter take her on a visit inland.
There is also quite a number of our landed sea-folk who form an active network meant to help each other out. They often provide people who still live in the sea but visit the land with a place to sleep if they run into any transformation issues or have to wait for the next high tide. This network includes merfolk and merrows and the like as well as selkies, so it might give you some more options than F3.
If you'd like our help contacting either group, or you want any other information, please don't hesitate to contact us again.
