Every Choice has a Consequence

Parenting 101.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. — Viktor Frankl

How we react — how we choose to react — to situations, truly defines us. But the overlying truth is that we “choose.”

You are free to make choices, but you are not free to choose the consequences. This is the dichotomy of agency.

It’s like building an airplane that’s already in-flight.

As parents, we have to decide at what point we will intercede in our children’s decision-making process. When we see that their choice will have dire consequences, we have to determine to what extent this pattern will serve as either a learning process or a possible damaging effect. Knowing when to take the reins back and suspend their agency can be tricky.

If we wait too long and let them “learn” from the consequence of their choice, they may have consequences that could physically and…