NO, DON’T DO THAT!
I’m sure you’ve heard those words a time or two when you were a kid about to jump off the top of your bunkbed or about to climb that 100 year old tree at your grandparent’s house.
Your parents told you that because they didn’t want you to get hurt. In other words, they were watching out for you and at the same time wanted to avoid an expensive trip to the emergency room that day.
Fast-forward about 40 years later, and now it’s my turn to speak those same words to my kids. Except I’ve noticed something different in their eyes when I tell them, “No, don’t do that or you’re going to hurt yourself.”
They do it anyway.
My first response was that I’ve failed as a parent because my kids are disobedient.
But then I looked from a different perspective. They were simply bold enough to carry out their plans regardless of me saying negative things like:
You’re going to break your leg…
You’re going fall and hurt yourself…
You’re going to crash if you try jumping your bike off the curb…
There’s something about being a kid that is fearless. We’ve tried to label it as rebellious and maybe we’re right.
Maybe they are rebelling against those negative thoughts of failure and defeat.
Maybe they are rebelling against those thoughts of what others are thinking about them.
Whatever it is, I think we as adults can learn from their tenacity.
Let this be a reminder or wake up call to all of us. It’s time to let that inner kid tackle the obstacles of fear that have kept us from reaching our dreams and goals in life.
No matter what, do it anyway….