It occurred to me this week at a piano recital that we parents frequently try to rescue our kids from difficult things. Not only big difficult things, like that science fair project you stay up all night with, but little things such as sitting through the entire concert, instead of taking them home early. My son was playing in a recital on Friday night and he was third of 15 or so performers. My daughter, itching to get home and call her friends, asked me a few times if we could just leave after he played. I toyed with the idea, because I wouldn't have minded getting home earlier, too, but as I thought it over, I decided it would be good for her to hear some new piano pieces, and to support her fellow students, and even though it might be hard, she's not a toddler anymore, and it would be good for her to sit still for an hour and behave.
