Tip #19: Get ready to think about your deepest fears and longings.

When your child struggles, and you want to intervene, we offer a different approach.

Instead, pause and think about your own fears.

Are you afraid they can’t do it on their own? Are you afraid it means you have failed as a parent if they fail?

Or are you afraid they can do it on their own and this means they will leave some day and not return home?

This year’s Overarching Question will have us all pondering our deepest fears and our ideas about love – of others, of self, of learning, of the world, of sports, of art, of math.

I suspect our lives will be richer, freer and happier a year from now as a result. But it won’t be easy.

“Must you overcome fear to find true love?”

I leave you with a thought on this topic. It is an excerpt from a letter written by a beloved friend, Henry W. Stein, to his young children:

“Real love is about giving. Not just giving but giving with the ‘hope of loss.’ Because the biggest gift your Mom and I can give you two is the gift of wings to fly away from us. The better we do our job, the earlier and farther away you can fly. Giving not only with the expectation of not getting in return but of losing is the love you two taught me. It is a sacrifice to a higher good.”

Thank you for sharing with me, Henry.