Even though you have these powers free and entirely your own, you don’t use them, because you still don’t realize what you have or where it came from. . . . I am prepared to show you that you have resources and a character naturally strong and resilient.
—Epictetus
Oh, how you wish you could guarantee they will never suffer. Of course, you know that’s not possible. As the character in Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha says, we cannot spare our kids the suffering we have gone through in our lives. We cannot prevent them from suffering altogether. Because suffering and pain are parts of life.
As a parent, the goal is to raise kids tough enough—loved enough—to deal with what life is going to throw at them. We don’t want them to suffer, but when suffering comes (and it is definitely coming), we want them to be able to endure its initial shock, navigate its ups and downs, and then learn from its consequences.
Think about that today. Think about toughening your kids up; think about preparing them for an uncertain future. Because that is the one thing we know for certain. Things are going to be tough. Things will go wrong. More pandemics and emergencies and recessions and heartbreak lie ahead. Our kids are going to have to be ready for it . . . and it’s on us to make sure they are.