by Sharon Copeland

Created on: September 13, 2010   Last Updated: September 15, 2010

The term we learn from our mistakes has been around for centuries.  The truth is, no matter what your age, the best lessons we learn in life are from making mistakes. We all learn from making our own mistakes, not from the mistakes of our parents or friends. Our parents told us not to date that good looking "rebel" because they had been in our shoes, they knew how we felt and they knew how it would turn out.   We had to get our heart stomped on ourselves.  It wasn't the same hearing about how things would end.  We had to live it to know it. 

Teens should be allowed to make their own mistakes so they can grow into responsible, healthy adults.  Our job as parents are to help guide them from making the bigger mistakes.  You know the ones, the ones that will jeopardize their health and well-being. We need to advise them on the dangers of drinking and driving.  We need to be constant advocates on not having children while they are still children themselves.  Those kinds of mistakes are ones we need to help them avoid.  As for other mistakes, they need to learn it themselves. We can't protect them from everything, no matter how much we want to. 

They need to make their own mistakes just like we did.  So what if they burn their food on their first try at making dinner, or if someones underwear has a pink tint to it because they didn't sort the laundry just so.  Trust me, they will learn how to do these things better the next time, especially if they are the ones with the funky colored clothes. Sometimes they even need to learn that their friend choices are not always the best. We can't pick their friends, and we can only hope that they come to the decision of what is in their best interest themselves.

Life is a big lesson of trial and error.  Toddlers, teens, middle-agers and the old folks at home all make mistakes. Most of us learn from them the first time around.  Some of us take a little longer.  No one has a life that has been mistake free. I think most of us would agree that we all walk around a little wiser every day because of it.

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