The Necessity of struggle
In families, it is necessary for parents to have a strong commitment to letting kids experience and learn from their own consequences. That commitment often requires time and effort on the part of the parents. A term developed by British pediatrician D.W. Winicott for the balance between helping kids too much and not helping them enough is “optimal frustration.” As human beings, we thrive when we have a certain level of struggle. We need challenges that help us develop our abilities. We need to make mistakes and experience failure in order to realize we can overcome and learn from them.