I teach adolescents from families who are secure. The kids are healthy, own lots of toys, travel widely.
Yet, curiously, their parents try to shield them from hardship. Stress is a dirty word.
Parents introduce their students: My child has ---- fill in the blank ----dyslexia, hypotonia, difficulty writing. Testing proves it. Please don't push him to do what he can't. The parents are sincere.
It is a parent's job to nurture the child. But growth is stressful. Parents wince at the heroic struggle required to mature into a strong person. Their message is clear: my kid struggles. It's not fair. Tell him he's fine just as he is.
But the world will smack him in the face. A diagnosis is simply a sign -- "Road Work Ahead." The world won't wait for a child who repeats, "I can't." It shrugs and moves on without him.
Yet there is power in believing, "I can."