affect someone’s life adversely. That’s why it can be really hard
to stand back and watch our children make bad choices. We
want to run to them and protect them, nurture them a bit
more, and keep them from harm. But they have to learn by
getting it wrong. If we think they’ll only learn by us telling
them, then we are making a big mistake. They have to do life
for themselves to really get to grips with it. It’s real, and they
can’t learn it from a book or from us or from the television.
They can only learn it by getting their fingers burned. Your job
is to stand by with the bandaids and the antiseptic and a kiss
to make it better.
Yo u a r e , o f c o u r s e , a l l o w e d t o a s k l e a d i n g q u e s t i o n s : A r e y o u
sure that’s a good idea? Have you thought this one through?
And what happens after you’ve done that? Can you afford to
take that much time off? Won’t it hurt a bit? Didn’t you try
something like this before? You can also do this with friends
as well when you can see they are about to make a big mistake
but you don’t want to be the killjoy. Try not to make your
questions sound too judgmental or moany, or they’ll ignore
you and go ahead just to be stubborn.
YOU CAN’T STEER THEM
RIGHT ALL THE TIME, OR
THEY’D NEVER LEARN FOR
THEMSELVES.