Hatching Turtles

If you’ve ever seen baby turtles hatching and their pilgrimage to the ocean it’s a highly protected experience. Highly guarded. Not all of them will make it, but they each must try – as unassisted as possible. What you’ll hear from those volunteers who spend countless hours watching the eggs until they hatch is that when they are making their way to the ocean, although they may struggle, you must let them try. The only time you intervene to redirect them is when they are headed in the complete opposite direction of the ocean. You even watch them to see if they can figure that out on their own. Only if it becomes obvious that they might die without support do you pick them up and redirect them towards the sea.

Why would I share this? It goes together with the discomfort and direction that parents are experiencing nowadays with their young adults. I’ve witnessed more parents picking up their child to redirect them or get them “to the sea sooner” than ever before. This certainly eases the anxiety of the parent to ensure their child makes it, but, parents have stripped them from that experience to fight through to make it to the sea. It’s called failure deprivation. To build their strength, to dig deep, to believe that they can do it, to carry on even when they’re exhausted and want to give up. See the analogy now?

Parents – your job to help prepare them for the road (or in this case, preparing them for the trek across the sand), ends here. We’ve got to learn to let our young adults make it to the sea on their own. Yes, this absolutely will include you grimacing watching their struggle. But it’s through the struggle that they build that resiliency which will help them throughout the rest of their life. Resiliency is the only way someone won’t give up on themselves, and on life. Our young adults need this more than ever now.

For questions or comments contact Joanna.