Infallibility isn’t the point

I used to think I always had to be right.

Especially as a parent. Definitely in front of my child.

One night on a beach vacation, a light streaked across the sky.

"A shooting star!" I exclaimed.

"Actually, it's an asteroid," my 10-year-old daughter corrected.

I dismissed her with the practiced confidence of someone who’d aced every school test, my tone carrying that subtle ‘trust me, I’m the adult’ authority we parents wield without thinking.

Later, alone with my tea and search results, I felt that familiar sting of being wrong. She was right. My certainty had been nothing but pride.

***

Children don't need us to be infallible or perfect.

They need to witness our growth.

As I said, over breakfast the next morning, "You were right. I was wrong,” I know my daughter was learning the quiet strength of being imperfectly human.

I broke tradition that morning, perhaps, but I know it was one more step toward forging an honest relationship with my child.