A Different Perspective - Successing Our Kids to Failure or Failing Our Kids to Success? (Part Deux)

A Different Perspective - Successing Our Kids to Failure or Failing Our Kids to Success? (Part Deux)

I CAN LOOK at this topic more objectively today than I could even a few years ago—both as a mother of grown children and as an employer. I know that as a generation of parents, we have failed and are failing our children by getting overly involved in their lives, which deprives them of vital experience in navigating life when things get tough.

I have mentored, interviewed, hired, and fired numerous young adults over the past fifteen years. The one thing they all had in common: they were overly successed by their parents. These kids were not allowed to be average and had never been told that they were anything other than excellent at everything. So you can imagine the shock for these young adults at their first job review—who were at best average in the workplace. Based on my experience, I’d say less than 2 percent of all employees are exceptional, and typically not until they have five to ten years of experience in their field!

Because many of these kids were not given the freedom to make their own choices (good or bad), when faced with major decision-making challenges in the workplace, they have a meltdown and cry in the restroom—or worse, lose their cool in front of a client! As children and teens, they were awarded trophies and put into honors classes when in fact they were no more distinctive than their fellow teammates or classmates. How does this affect them in the workplace when they’re twenty-four years old? They glide in with a sense of entitlement that’s embarrassing.

Do you wonder why my generation never had this attitude? We learned humility when we had to sit on the bench, when we didn’t win the trophy, and by watching those who truly were gifted excel.

Haughtiness goes before destruction;humility precedes honor. (Proverbs 18:12)

Lay your heavy burden down. Moms, they’re going to be closer to perfect after experiencing a little bit of failure and humility.