I think that protecting children from disappointment should be done in the same way that I have said children should experience consequences.
We should allow our children disappointment in the small things (hopefully a natural result of their choices) – so that they might learn proper action in the big things.
Want an example? Fine. But it’s late. So only one.
You might allow your daughter the disappointment of not making the seventh grade tennis team.
You encouraged her to practice – but her actions did not match her aspiration.
In this, hopefully she has learned a lesson.
And now hopefully when she is in high school and wants an A+ in chemistry, experience will have taught her what she must do.
And later, in law school, the same response will kick in when she begins studying for the bar exam.
Parenting on 3. Ready, break.
By trying to protect children from disappointment, we protect them from hoping, striving, dreaming, and sometimes from achieving their dreams.
-Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (Amazon)