I was reading a book called 10 Minute Life Lessons for Kids, by Jamie Miller and I found a chapter devoted to Courage and Adversity. In these changing and stressful times, we need courage, so I dug in to see what the author wanted to share on the subject. The author talked about her son joking that he was ordering chocolate donuts and hash browns for breakfast, but instead he got scrambled eggs, and he complained that was not what he ordered. She then compared life with meal orders. We all want our lives to be made to order. Life would be perfect then, with good health, money, and opportunities served up on a nice hot plate. Instead, life gives us many difference experiences, some of which we never would have ordered. Things like illness, divorce, job loss, and failure are sometimes served to us instead. "But I didn't order this!" we want to yell. And alas, no one comes to pick up the unwanted order. We are left instead, to deal with it in our own way. We learn that unwanted orders can be an opportunity. While not wanted or asked for, unwanted life experiences give us the opportunity to grow. When we grow, we gain strength and courage. Courage is not something we can give to another person. It is something grown within us when we are served something scary or unknown or sad. As parents, we often want to protect our children from challenging or scary things. We don't want to see them struggle or suffer. We'd like them to have "made to order" lives full of hope and wellness. But sometimes, we just need to stand by them and guide them through their challenges so they can grow their own courage and manage their own adversity in the future. This is how we can encourage children to grow into strong, resilient adults.
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AuthorTanya Keene is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor at Pine View Elementary School in Land O Lakes, FL. Archives
September 2020
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