One of the hardest things for me to do as a parent is to deliberately allow my\u00a0kids to fail.\u00a0 It’s so hard that sometimes I need to walk out of the room so I don’t end up intervening and bailing them out.<\/p>\n
Of course, I would never, ever allow my kids to fail if it puts them in any sort of danger.\u00a0 That’s just a no-brainer.\u00a0 But making mistakes is a part of life and, if viewed from the perspective of learning how to make life easier the next time, then making mistakes becomes a powerful learning tool.<\/p>\n
As a result of having to walk out of the room several times this past week, Nathan has learned to register his soccer reffing availability early in the week, not on the last day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nathan needs money.\u00a0 Gas money.\u00a0 He loves the freedom that a car brings but there’s a price that comes with it.\u00a0 A real easy way for him to earn a lot of money is by reffing soccer on Saturdays.\u00a0 He can earn upwards of $20 for each game he refs by choosing the right games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But before he can ref any of the games, he needs to sign in online and choose the games.\u00a0 Ryan had picked his games on Monday.\u00a0 As a result, he had first pick of pretty much any game he wanted.<\/p>\n
Although I reminded Nathan to pick his games, as well, he procrastinated.\u00a0 All week I was sending mind vibes to him because I knew he needed the money.\u00a0\u00a0 The longer he waited the greater the chance that he wouldn’t have any games to ref.<\/p>\n
I also knew that if I kept reminding him, I would be putting myself in the position of always having to remind him, and he would come to expect it.\u00a0 That’s why I found myself walking out of the room several times when soccer somehow entered the conversation.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t until Thursday night at 9 p.m. that Nathan finally hopped on the computer to sign up for games.\u00a0 And low and behold, there weren’t many games left that needed refs.\u00a0 Not only that, they were spread out during the day, unlike the back-to-back games that Ryan had signed up for.<\/p>\n
Ryan made $70 reffing on Saturday.\u00a0 Nathan made $35.\u00a0 In addition, Nathan spent a lot of gas money driving from one field to another and “wasting” time in between waiting.<\/p>\n
It’s Sunday today.\u00a0 Nathan has already signed up for games next week.\u00a0 And I never had to say a word.\u00a0 Sometimes being a parent is really hard.\u00a0 But sometimes it’s the hard parts that end up making it really easy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the hardest things for me to do as a parent is to deliberately allow my\u00a0kids to fail.\u00a0 It’s so hard that sometimes I need to walk out of the room so I don’t end up intervening and bailing them out. Of course, I would never, ever allow my kids to fail if it puts them in any sort of danger.\u00a0 That’s just a no-brainer.\u00a0 But making mistakes is a part of life and, if viewed from the perspective…<\/p>\n