As I sit and watch my daughter, I realize how quickly time is passing. My mother emotions come into play. She is such a free spirit and so strong willed. As much as I want to tame that free spirit, another part of me cannot wait to see where it will take her. She is growing up so quickly.
Schoolwork and the after-school activities take up so much of our time that we do not get a moment to just talk. We don’t take time to discuss her days, how she is doing at school, or how she is socializing with others in and out of class. That got me thinking — that strong-willed part of her wants everything to be so perfect, but I know that is not apart of life.
We all face different challenges each day. As a mother we want to shield our children from the bad obstacles, but I am here to say that we need to let our children fail. I want my daughter to fail because if I don’t let her fail then I’m not trying. Therefore I have written a letter to my daughter to explain to her my love for her and why I pray she fails.
Dear Daughter,
When you were born I thought I could not love anything more than you. When they put you in my arms, I instantly wanted to protect you and give you everything you could ever want. As a parent, all you want to do is love and protect your child with all your heart.
Watching you grow, all I could think is how much I wanted you to be happy and successful. You were just a baby and needed my help with everything. To feed you or to help you walk. But now you are at the perfect age. The age when you are discovering. Learning something new everyday.
And at this time you are at the age of understanding. You are starting to understand your feelings and when and how something will make you angry or sad. You now know that your actions will effect others around you. What people say or do will also reflect how you see the world and yourself.
I want you to know I will always be your number one cheerleader. I will be there for every event at school and outside school. If you want to try something new I will be there to encourage you and give you support. Some things will come easy to you. Other things will not be as easy for you and you will have to work that much harder.
But something you do not know is deep in my heart I will want you to fail. Because deep down I know that as your mother I have to let your learn on your own how to handle failure. How to learn from those mistakes. Without mistakes we do not grow. Even though I don’t want to admit it, you will grow up and I will have to let you go. You will have to use that knowledge from those failures to be a better friend coworker and companion.
So yes, my child, you read that right. I do want you to fail, because I know that you are going to do great things and those great things will come from the failures.
