Young people make mistakes. As parents we impose rules regulating our children's behavior and our society has laws that are designed to protect them from dangerous temptations because it is generally recognized that their brains are not fully developed and they may not be mature enough to reason through the potential consequences of all of their actions.
School is a time for gaining academic knowledge, to strengthen a child's formation in their faith and develop social skills but it is also a time for making and learning from mistakes in a safe and supportive environment.
I raise this subject because I often see two polarized parental reactions when a child has made a mistake:
1) The sky is falling. Shame has been brought upon our family. Now that our 7 year old has (insert typical 7 year old action in need of correction), he or she will never be accepted by Harvard.
or
2) My child is absolutely perfect. There is no way he /she could possibly have done (insert typical 7 year old action needing correction). We have brought him / her up to know better than that. It must be the teacher's / other student's / school's / computer's fault.
So...let me revert to my opening words. Young people make mistakes. It is OK. The sky will not fall. They may still gain admission to a college that has an annual tuition in excess of the budget of a small African country. We are only telling you about the mistake because it is your right to know and we want to partner with you to help your child learn from the mistake. We still love your child despite their mistakes (just as you do). They may still be Valedictorian even though they stole a crayon in 1st grade.
Being a parent is a tough job but...relax just a little :-)
Have a restful weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment