Louish Pixel via Compfight
I’m sure you have had these moments.
You see your child teetering on the brink of disaster.
You could save them as you have before, or let them learn the lesson and how to create the solution.
You and your child are running an egg relay race of sorts.
The eggs are filled with opportunities and possibilities for your child.
How many times have you held the raw egg carefully on the spoon – running to and fro, up and down – returning with the egg in pristine condition?
Now your child has possession of the egg, and it looks like it may fall.
Maybe she is running too fast or hasn’t taken the time to balance the egg carefully on the spoon? It could be that he is distracted or perhaps, he just doesn’t see the value in keeping the shell unbroken?
And you have to ask yourself, if the egg breaks, will anything terrible happen? Is this life threatening or is it just messy?
It’s easy to say that we should let our children make mistakes, but watching them trip over their own shoelace and end up with “egg on their little faces,” is not always easy – even if you reminded them to tie their shoes!
Not only that, once you have mastered the art of knowing when to give a two year old the egg, you have a 16 year old and the game has changed 12 times. You can trust them to keep their fingers out of light sockets, but what does it take for you to feel comfortable letting them take the car on a Saturday night?
Ultimately, you know the criteria for your children. When they are ready and when they are not. When to let them fall down and break a bunch of eggs and when the smallest crack in a shell, could have a lifetime of ramifications.
How have you created that criteria so that you can know in the moment, how to make those decisions?
Parenthood is full of eggs.
What is your secret formula for helping your child get the important ones to the finish line in one piece, teach them to accept some cracks and help them clean up the messes they will make?
Creating Your Coach Me Quick Formula for Winning the Egg Relay:
1. How do you feel when your child is disappointed or makes a mistake? Can you raise your ability to tolerate your child learning these hard lessons?
2. How can you help your child, without fixing every problem for them?
3. What is your strategy for identifying those times when you need to protect those eggs and when you can let your child take the risk of dropping a few?
4. Remember; no use crying over broken eggs, right? When we react with humor and lightness, our child learns to do the same. How can you keep laughing whether eggs are cracking, or not?
Enjoying every minute of the egg rally in LA,
Jamee
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