Our daughter came home from school the other day, laid in bed and wept. She had an audition for the middle school musical and felt like she did poorly. It was one of those moments as a parent you longed for someone to rip your heart from your chest and stomp it on the floor – it would have been less painful. For a moment her mother and I were stuck in the gray area between wound licking and pep talking. We recognize to appreciate success she must know failure, but we also know our job is to raise a self-sufficient young adult who exudes empathy without judgment.
For me personally I was reminded of the importance of the father-daughter relationship. If I’m not there to fully support her she might look for it elsewhere and elsewhere will never have her best interests in mind. I did nothing to help her prepare for her audition. Life is busy and filled with distractions, but I need to remember what is truly important in life… the growth of the ones I love.
