Letting Our Kids Fail

Sometimes, we have to let our kids fail.

Two weeks ago, our 6th grader was assigned a project that will be a significant portion of his social studies grade.  He knew it was coming, was given class time to work on it, and was apparently reminded at his mother's house and at school on Friday that the assignment was due on Monday.  So today, when we asked him to get out his work to transfer to a poster board, he had nothing.  NOTHING!  He allegedly "left it at school".  He insisted that he didn't need the stuff from school---he had it memorized (at this point, the existence of said "stuff" is questionable.)  Rene' wanted to help him; babysit him so he would do a good job, but I disagreed.  If Joe wants to throw together a haphazard piece of junk and turn it in, we should let him.  He has to learn the consequences of doing things carelessly, and if we intervene every single time he chooses to do the wrong thing, we are going to have a serious mess on our hands when he gets older.  I am sad that Joe made the choices he did, but he is now going to learn a valuable lesson: accountability. He is going to reap the consequences of a poorly done project and hopefully, it will serve as a reminder in the future when he ignores his work.


I was thinking that the lesson we are trying to teach Joe can be very much like the lesson God is trying to teach me as His child.  God sometimes has to let me fail in order for me to learn what He has for me.  If God stepped in every time I blew it, what would I learn from that?  If I do my "homework"- study His word and ask Him for help-He will guide me.  But, if I turn away from Him, go my own way and ignore the "lesson plan", I undoubtedly will end up having to take the class again.  Following directions, doing it right the first time and asking for help when you need it is a great way to get a passing grade in 6th grade...and in life lessons.