Nurturing Resilience in Our Kids
That’s easier said than done.
Parenting could be more strategic than it is sometimes. Reacting in the moment is often the norm.
When you love someone so fiercely, it’s easy to abandon logic to protect them from disappointment or harm. While good intentions may sit at the core of helping our kids get through life, it can also backfire. Therein lies the fine line between empowering and enabling.
How do we know when to roll up our sleeves and do things for the ones we love or when to step back and let them find their own way?
When kids are younger, it’s more straightforward.
We give them chores to teach responsibility, even if we can do the tasks better ourselves. I remember rewashing laundry that never got clean because my teenagers liked to overstuff the washing machine. And my husband always cringed watching our son mow the lawn because he never walked a straight line.
But that’s how they learned.
We also draw boundaries that aren’t grounded in much more than principle. Bedtimes, curfews, and screen time limits were often arbitrary, based simply on what served us best. Sometimes, we’d compare notes with other parents to at least show we cared about being fair.
