Managing Butterflies and Disappointment

As parents, we have far too often dealt with disappointment. My wife and I suffered three years of unexplained infertility — disappointment was our very close friend during that time.

However, for children, disappointment can be a really hard experience that brings about feelings that they may have difficulty managing. For the last month, our children have been “raising” caterpillars that turned into butterflies. This week, the butterflies were ready to be released into the wild.

Bella, our youngest daughter, had no problem with releasing her butterfly. And yet, it wasn’t the same for our other two kids. Penn’s butterfly almost drowned (that might have been my fault), and Sophia’s butterfly was having trouble flying. She spent time in the garden watching the poor butterfly in hopes that he would gain the strength to take off into the world like the butterflies that her brother and sister had raised.

Though this experience wasn’t the greatest for our eldest daughter, it’s just a part of growing up. Disappointment will occur for every child sooner or later, and as long as you, as a parent, are there to help them get through it and help them understand that this is a part of life — they will be okay.

Check out our newest vlog to see how we managed butterflies and disappointment: