Yesterday I posted about how Lauren hurt my feelings and that today she had an FFA speech contest. Well, now her feelings are hurt. She didn't advance and didn't place in the top five in the contest. And guess what? I didn't say anything to make it worse (yay me). In fact, I wanted to cry right along with her! I told her I was sad for her, but did encourage her that she has three more years of competing in the FFA speech contest.
Lauren is blessed with a good speaking voice. I can't take the credit. It's from her dad and his side of the family. In fact, she's a lot like her Uncle Ken - a great, powerful voice that is loud and clear. It's a great asset - even the judges said so on her critique sheets each time she gave it at competitions. So, why didn't she place tonight? The judges gave her a few pointers for improvement, but mostly said "Great job!".
I don't know what's harder: To mess up and miss the mark or to do great and miss the mark. Both are hard. Both are disappointing. But, both are facts of life. Both kinds of disappointments must be dealt with and it's much better to deal with them in a positive way. Becoming negative (either by the child or by the parent) doesn't help anyone.
An important fact about tonight's competiton is that there were nine others competing for the same speech division as Lauren was. Most likely they all thought they did well, too. Most likely those student's parents were expecting to hear of success, too. But, only two of the speakers were allowed to advance in competition. Lauren isn't the only one who faced disappointment tonight. Others are in the same situation as she.
As I mentioned last night, teenage emotions run all over the place. It's like a roller coaster going up and down and all around. But, when a teenager is a Christian, he/she has God in charge of the roller coaster. All they need to do is sit down, buckle up, and enjoy the ride. It will be over before they know it!
And, that's a topic for another post that I'm not even ready to write!
One Thing Is Necessary
4 hours ago
1 comment:
Sorry about that...but there's always something to be learned and hopefully it was a character building experience for her. I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning remembering a disappointing experience when my DD went to regional soccer tournament in Alabama MANY years ago. Don't know why, I hadn't thought about that in such a long time...competition is rough, sometimes.
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