It’s a fine line between helping your child pursue his dreams, versus helping them understand the reality of the situation, or in my son’s words “crushing his dreams.” Did I mention that this was from my eleven-year-old who weighs 63 pounds with a growth trajectory of 5’6 or 5’7. He was quite incensed at my audacity to suggest that his dream of paying college football in the SEC was highly doubtful.
Yes he sometimes has grandiose ideas because we have taught him that hard work and perseverance pay off. Unfortunately, sometimes reality bites. Take this past weekend for example: after a lackluster gymnastics season, compounded by a knee injury the day before State Championships, expecting a gold medal,(even without the knee injury ) was futile. Explaining that to a sensitive child, who has self confidence issues, is not an easy thing. You have to tread lightly in order to support their goals or risk setting them up for failure.
Sometimes Mom is wrong. At Monday’s, Fifth Grade Science Fair Awards, I was in the middle of explaining to him, why I did not think he would win an award, and they announced him the third place winner. He had told me he thought he would win because their conclusion rocked. “Chest size does not determine who can hold their breath the longest? Competitive athletes can hold there breath longer than the average person.” Who knows, maybe I will be wrong about the SEC too.