Knowing when to Step In
Posted: July 24, 2009By Dr James Dobson
One of the most difficult choices parents must face is deciding when to let children suffer the consequences of their actions and when they need rescuing.
The road to success is fraught with failures. Evey winner has at one time felt the pain of defeat. Our children must go through “hard” times for them to grow. Yet, its is tough to stand back and watch them struggle. Our love for them makes us vulnerable to their needs.
Life brings back pain and sorrow to little people. And we hurt when they hurt. When others ridicule them, when they feel lonely, when they fail at something important, when they cry, when physical harm threatens them. These are trials that seem unbearable to those of us who stand and watch from sidelines. We want to protect them from life’s sting, to hold them without our embrace.
Yet, there are times when we must let them struggle. Children cannot grow without taking risks. Toddlers cannot walk without falling down. Students cannot learn without facing failure and adolescents cannot enter adulthood unless we release them from our protective custody. It takes a wise parent to know when to intervene and when to let them profit from their stresses.
Added personal comments: For parents who believe in God’s intervention into your children’s life. Please pray. A praying parent can help to deliver many heartaches and can open windows of opportunities that the child does not have to go through on the stresses that come along. God will turn all things (in our eyes as bad ) to good in the end.
