Has Something Gone Wrong?

I wasn't sure about getting an Amazon Alexa, but we got one for free and we were quickly hooked.

In fact, we now have five. We use her ALL the time. We add things to our shopping list, ask her what the weather is like, listen to music, make announcements to each other, and more. She's almost a part of the family.

One of the things we use her for is to turn on and off our TV in the basement. For some reason, we often get the message, "I'm not quite sure what went wrong." In reality, nothing has gone wrong and she has actually turned on the TV. She just thinks that she hasn't.

This morning I started thinking about this simple message. How often do we think something has gone wrong when it really hasn't?

What if things are going exactly the way they are supposed to?

Raising teens is really hard, and it's easy to react out of fear. It's easy to worry that we aren't doing a good job parenting them or that they are making mistakes that will affect their lives forever. It's easy to fall into story telling and to add meaning to things by trying to predict the future.

While it's good to teach our teens the possible consequences of their actions, it's important to remember that we don't really know what will happen. Making decisions and living with the consequences teaches us. All of the decisions we make add up to turn us into who we are. Everything happens for a reason and we can trust that our teens are doing all the things they are "supposed" to do to turn into who they are meant to be.

The next time you are worried something has gone wrong, stop and challenge that story and see if you can believe that something has actually gone exactly the way it was supposed to. It will take off some of the pressure, relieve fear, and help you be a happier parent!