When I was in junior high and I liked a girl, it didn’t matter what my friends said about her – good or bad – I wasn’t going to take their word for it. Not because I didn’t believe them, but because I needed to go through the experience myself to solidify the truth. Besides, it’s ME. No one would treat me less than.
Well, that’s not always the case. And yes, she can be like my friends said. However, the only way I was going to find out was by going through it. They say you learn your hardest lessons by going through the most pain. I believe that.
These life experiences are how we become wizened. Without them, it would be all theory. So, we know what we know.
I always have to remind myself this when I’m in a situation with my children and remember, these are their life lessons. This is how they are learning to navigate themselves in the world.
And as much as I try to get out in front of them to solve their problems before they arise, it will never be the same as allowing them to go through them first hand.
Now they know what they didn’t know.