Why You Should Always Support Your Child's Dreams, Even if You Don't Believe in Them.

Life is unfair. The world is hard.

As adults, we know these truths from experience. Good people don't always prosper. Bad people don't always suffer. Sometimes, no matter how hard we work, we won't achieve the success we deserve.

Children are born with a natural optimism. They don't see the invisible limits that we do. Anything is possible. They don't assign jobs the value we do. Ask a child under the age of seven what they want to be when they grow up and the answers are wild: police officer, princess, garbage collector, or cashier. They aren't thinking about money or the societal value of the jobs. They pick them because they look fun.

Many people believe you should tell children all the ways life is unfair. You need to prepare them for the real thing. You should save them from embarrassment. They need to be realistic.

As a parent, you don't have to be the one to do that. No matter how much you try to prevent it, they will experience heartbreak and failure. They will face rejection. The world will teach them those lessons many times over. They don't need your fears and doubts, they will already have their own.

You don't have to teach them the world is unfair, the world will do that for you.

If you spread your own fears and doubts to your child, you are robbing them of the opportunity to learn from it. You create a life lived with regret and 'what ifs'. If your child chases after their dreams anyway, they won't invite you along with them. They know you don't support them, so why should they share that side of their life with you?

They will encounter plenty of people that doubt them. The last person they need on that list is you, too.    

Instead, they need your unwavering support. Keep your own doubts and fears to yourself. What they need is to know that you will be there when they fall. You will be on their side to pick them up, dust them off, and tell them to try again.