This morning my 10 year old daughter wouldn’t get ready for school. She woke up on time as per usual, however she seemed to potter around in her room for ages. I went and knocked on her door a couple of times, reminding her of the time, but to no avail.

At just before 8am I went into her room and started to get firm with her by saying, “we are leaving for school in fifteen minutes from now”. Then I walked away and left her to get herself organized as she knows how to do.

At 8.15am she came out of her room and started running around as if her life depended on it. I was just about to leave for work so I said to her calmly, “what a pity you won’t have time for breakfast this morning” and walked to the car in the garage. Becky was horrified but as she needed a lift to school came running pretty quickly when she realized that I wasn’t joking.

I drove her to school and there was not much conversation. I stopped at the gate, she got out and that was about all. Becky seemed to be testing me this morning to see if I would stick to my boundaries. I think she found out the answer to that one. Poor Becky had to go hungry until morning break as she hadn’t eaten any breakfast.

Sometimes kids will try to control adults by dawdling like this. We have no control over that. All we can control is our reaction to their actions. Becky knows now that there will be a sad consequence of no breakfast should she try to dawdle like that again. A valuable lesson for any child to learn.

I know it is sad to have to do that but if I keep on saving Becky she will never learn that the world requires people to be on time. I had to leave for work. I had to earn money to feed my children and pay the mortgage. And that’s the way life is. Becky had a responsibility to be at school on time.

Now here’s what we must remember: we need to stop rescuing our kids and let them learn things the hard way sometimes. I understand this is not always a pleasant thing but it is a necessary thing. The more we rescue our kids the more they will expect it. Remember our job as a parent is to make sure that our kids are equipped for adult life.

Becky had to go hungry until morning tea break to realize that the world doesn’t revolve around her. And I do hope that she chooses to learn a valuable lesson here. It would be hard for me to let that happen again in our house however kids need an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

I understand that as parents we like to rescue your kids but we are doing them a disservice if we continually rescue them from themselves. Let your child experience the consequences of their actions today and they will be a better person for it tomorrow.