“Don’t run, you’re going to fall!” Shouts one dad at the park to his daughter.
“No, don’t do that, it’ll make you fall.” Says another.
As I sat at the park watching my son and niece happily run around the playground I began to wonder – why do we interfere when life is attempting to build our children’s character? Surely we have good intent to do so; we don’t want them to hurt because when they hurt, we hurt. We try our best to protect them from harm and danger because that is what good parenting is all about, right?
But when do we take it too far? Could we possibly limit the intellectual growth of our kids when we are overprotective?
I can’t help but to think – ‘So what if they fall now and then!’ As adults, we understand it’s necessary to learn our lessons through trial and error.
Falling has taught us how to take steps more carefully. It’s taught us resilience. It has strengthened our confidence. Falling has helped us to appreciate being able to walk and run. And above all, it has built our character.
So try to resist the urge to protect every single step and let your kids run. Let them fall. Let them get knocked down once in a while. Who knows, they may end up teaching us a thing or two about courage.
Courage is not falling. It’s having the audacity to get back up. – Mary V. Davids