Tough Being A Kid

He strutted out of the house wearing his new Cookie Monster hat and t-shirt feeling confident and excited for his friends to see that he had found one of the recent coveted hats amongst his classmates a Sesame Street character hat.  The shirt well according to him that was a bonus that he found while on date night with mom.

Until, one class mate nicely complemented him on wearing the oh, not so cool shirt that truly was unacceptable in the world of 3rd graders. According to this ONE classmate yes ONE classmate.  This one classmate did not care for my sons Cookie Monster t-shirt and felt it was his obligation to the rest of the 3rd grade population to inform my son of his opinion.  You know the saying it takes 20 positive comments to wash away the 1 negative comment we receive.  Well here was the 1 negative comment that made the tough being a kid saying - so true for my son.

 That day my 9 year old adorable boy received his one negative comment that took away his excitement, created a feeling of rejection and even made him feel as though he had to wear his jacket the remainder of the day to cover up his shirt.  It is tough being a kid.

The negative comment and rejection made for great dinner time conversation with his siblings cheering him on, reminding him of who God made him to be, reminding him that even when someone hurts us  we still need to love them, they each shared their own stories, their advice and their encouragement.

These tough being a kid moments are hard to watch our kids go through but we also know these are the moments that grow, challenge and build character into our children and in the end they will survive. Maybe with a few battle wounds but that is where we come in as a family too be the safe place they come home to for encouragement, security and love.

Has your child had a tough to be a kid moment this week?