Frustrations

Yesterday my youngest daughter was sharing with me a frustration she was having with something at school. In a moment of parental wisdom, I decided to share with her that “life will always be filled with frustration, so you might as well work through it and move on”. This golden nugget was not well received; my wisdom actually sent my daughter running to the couch with her arms over her head.

In general she feels it is good practice to avoid things that make her uncomfortable and my moment of cold blooded wisdom and reality had her shrieking that I should “stop making her feel worse”. Honestly my intention had been to let her know that if the item that was frustrating her now had her crumbling, she was probably going to be in a world of hurt one day. Frustrations are a big part of everyday life, if you let every little thing bring you to your knees, you will never walk up right again.

It is hard for someone so young to understand what real frustration and disappointment are. My daughter has not had to face any real hardships in her life so far and while I am happy for that, I also want to make sure that when the time comes (and it will) she is prepared to deal with hardship, stress, disappointment or all of the above. No use pussy footing around now, there are life lessons to teach our children and I would prefer the lesson come from me now instead of from the School of Hard Knocks later.

Eventually, my daughter unwound her arms from her head and grudgingly listened to me. I do not believe she is fully invested in my theory, but I did plant a seed. Perhaps one day when the time is right that seed will sprout and help her through what life dishes up. In the mean time I may need to polish my parenting act up a bit, it would be nice if next time I want to share some of my wisdom I can at least keep my audience from running out of the room.