Failure and Letting Go

 

Kate came out the class the other day and said, “That was difficult!”

I said, “Good!”

This year I rarely checked Josh’s homework before he turned it in.  If he asked me, I would check it, but he seldom asked.  I have watched him make some mistakes that I know I would have caught if I would have checked his work.  I am glad he made those mistakes.  He has learned some valuable lessons about checking his work himself before turning it in. (this took me a long time to figure out)

I struggled, for a moment. with the thought that I was being lazy, but I quickly realized that was just my “control” alarm  trying to ring loudly in my head again.

One thing I have learned through raising these five children, is that especially when one of them is having an attitude, this is a great time to let them fail.  If they are asking to do something (with an attitude) that you know is not best for them, let them do it (within reason) and learn a tough lesson.  They are probably going to see that next time, they need to listen to you and not their little immature will.  Make sure you say, I know this is probably not a good idea, but I am going to let you see that for yourself.  (show that you are making the decision to let them do, and not that they are not asking you a million times and that is why you are giving in)

We want to “save” our children from a lot of heartache, but we know in the those times of failure, great lessons are learned.

How many times in our life have we thought,  I wish I could just help my child and make it easier.

I pray as you raise your children, you will find grace to get through these times of failure with your children.  The pain feels endless but trust me, it gets better as the days progress.

God is always with us.