One of the hardest things in life is to be a parent and stand by when things dont go as our beloved children hoped or wanted. It isn’t just a case of a helicopter parent needing their child to excel and succeed in all circumstances. It hurts to watch your kids face drop, heart sink and eyes tear up when they strike out in Little League, receive a rejection letter from a college they had their heart set on, get a pink slip from their first job or a “Dear John” letter (email/text/twitter) from a girlfriend. The funny thing is you know such things are going to happen in life and there is nothing unusual about it. All the platitudes about such events being a “character builder”, all the positive affirmations about knowing one is special and unique, and all the Wayne Dyer tapes reminding you how everything in life “happens for a reason” dont really help…at least not for a little while. Sometimes shitty things happen and it just plain hurts, both for the receiver of the bad news as well as for the parent who loves them maybe a bit too much. William Cowper said, “Grief is itself a kind of medicine”. That might be true, but it is definitely the bitter tasting variety and not the “spoonful of sugar” that Mary Poppins sang about. If forced to find the so called silver lining in a bad situation involving a deeply disappointed son or daughter, it is that we are immediately reminded how deep and abiding our love for our children is, no matter is they are a 3 month old infant, a 3 year old crying toddler who fell off his tricycle, or a 33 year old computer programmer. Our job is to keep loving them no matter what.