Dealing With Disappointment in a Positive Light
It’s practically impossible to go through life avoiding disappointment. It is often that success only comes after jumping the many hurdles of disappointment life throws at us in the process of pursuing it. As adults, most of us eventually become hardened to the idea of a little disappointment. Children, however, are considerably more vulnerable to the concept. Whether it's a trip to the playground that gets ruined by rain or there are no more chocolate sprinkles at the ice cream shop, life is full of little and big disappointments. And as much as we'd like to spare our kids from letdowns, we can't. Following is some realistic advice designed to prepare your child or children to be able to deal with the many disappointments they will no doubt face on their rocky journey towards adulthood. Equipped with the right mindset, disappointments can be changed into rungs on the ladder to success and opportunity.  When children learn at an early age that they have the tools to get over a disappointing situation, they'll be able to rely on that throughout childhood and even as adults.. If you bend over backwards to shield them from disappointment, you're keeping them from developing some important skills.

Hopefully this advice will inspire some of us parents, as well as our children.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”

It’s a saying we’ve all encountered at some stage in our lives, and it’s particularly true in the context of dealing with disappointments. If we have a final goal we want to reach, it is inevitable that we will face numerous setbacks on our journey towards that goal. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and similarly our final goal or dream won’t happen overnight either. It is important to train our brains to realise that setbacks and disappointments are merely stepping stones on the road to success. Anybody who achieved anything worth talking about will always tell you that they reached that position after many years of hard work. Nobody achieves their dreams easily and without serious effort and determination. Most successful people would have used their disappointments and setbacks as a launching pad to keep them determined, which brings us to our next point. 

Nothing worth achieving is obtained on the first attempt. It doesn’t matter whether they are solving a math problem, or trying win an 100 meter sprint, the principles involved are the very same. Success usually occurs after many failed attempts. If our brain is trained to perceive disappointments as stepping stones to success, it makes it easier to “dust ourselves off”. If we strive to make each attempt better than our last, simply by trying our best, success is already within arms reach, instead of barely visible over the edge of the horizon. It’s all about perception. If we view our disappointments as finalities or “the end of the world”, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Instead if we accept and embrace the concept of being disappointed, we can chart each attempt we make and view the progress made with each attempt as a tool of inspiration, which will lead us closer to achieving our final goal.

It is important to remember, disappointments are guaranteed as we pass through life (it's not a nice concept but it's true), it’s how we teach our children to deal with them and perceive disappointment that determines whether they give us easily, or cross the finish line to success in a blaze of inspiration. Disappointments are part of growing up, and although it’s painful to watch our children suffer when things don’t go their way, disappointment can actually be good for kids, especially when you teach them how to bounce back so they can cope better for future possible letdowns.