Disappointment

Disappointment. Olympic champion David Rudisha believes, "Sometimes when you get disappointment it makes you stronger." I tend to agree. Although, no one likes disappointment it is part of life. Those disappointments, and the way we respond to them shape us. My concern though, is that as a culture we seem to want to shield our children from disappointment. We want to orchestrate "perfect" lives for our children that result only in happiness. The hardest thing to do as a parent is to allow natural consequences that might result in disappointment. But, oh what an amazing lesson we can teach our children. Learning to try again, learning to get past hurts, learning to take responsibility for actions will all guide our children to deal with the disappointments of adult life. Protecting them from the hurt leaves them powerless to cope. Let your children know that you are there to love and support them through the disappointments of life, but don't deny them the opportunity to grow into healthy adults.