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Trust
Coming soon in kit form.
Trust, it seems, comes in stages.
As babies and young children, we learn to rely
on the care and protection of our parents. As
we grow, we continue learning the (not always
painless!) lessons about who is worthy of our
trust and who is not. The disappointment of realizing
someone cannot be trusted is a tough, but essential,
life lesson.
As we grow in trust of others, we’re
also learning to trust ourselves and striving
to be worthy of others’ trust. Having children
has brought home the notion of trust like nothing
else could for me. And I see, too, that with this
trust comes an awesome responsibility: the fair
use of power, especially when the balance is unequal
as it is with young children.
As my two sons have gone from babies
to boys, I’ve learned to trust them in concrete,
everyday ways: Will they cross with the lights?
Will they be fair to their friends? I don’t
want to nag, but I don’t want them to ignore
my cautions either simply because they’ve
heard them so often. So the challenge is to say
it once and then keep quiet!
Now as they are becoming teenagers,
it’s more about trusting their judgment
and their character. It’s about letting
go.
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