Regret is a very heavy word, and sometimes, it can affect both young and old. Most of the time, regret starts out when we’re children. When we fail to do the things we want to, it can affect us as we grow older.
I remember when I practically skipped out on one fateful Lacrosse try-out when I was in high school. If I pursued it, I might have gotten a college scholarship.
That’s a good example of regret that stems from childhood. But how can you, as parents, help your children avoid making faulty decisions that will eventually turn to regret in the future?
An article written by Rachel Gillett for the BusinessInsider.com.au focused on this one common thing – what adults regret the most in their life.
A study done by Karl Pillemer, professor of Human Development at Cornell University, founder and director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Ageing, and author of “30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans” and “30 Lessons for Loving: Advice from the Wisest Americans on Love, Relationships, and Marriage,” asked hundreds of older people as part of Cornell University’s Legacy Project.
Americans aged 65 and up were asked what their biggest regret in life was and Professor Pillemer was not ready for the most common answer: “I wish I hadn’t spent so much of my life worrying.”
You can read the rest of the article here.
Why worry at all?
Adults spend most of their time worrying about a lot of things, and I am not exempted from this. But when I think about children being worried, it bothers me. They are at such a young age that the only thing that should bother them is what cartoon show they’ll watch tomorrow.
Alas, we are now living in a world where children’s childhoods are taken away from them because they are worried about their schoolwork, their reputation, and other things. As parents, it is our responsibility to let our children think freely. We should guide them in making decisions that will not cause them worry.
