• What if I lost my job and couldn’t support my family?

    What if we moved to another country and my kids were miserable?

    What if we bought a house and it turned out to be a horrible investment?

    What if my kids changed schools and ended up being worse off than where previously they were?

    All the questions listed above are legitimate concerns that were sent into Playdate.com by our readers.  I generally don’t like to clump responses together, because every scenario is unique.  However, there were some common guidelines in my responses that I wanted to bring to light.  These are all struggles that people face every day, yet somehow our willingness to take risks diminishes with age.  Any major decision is much more difficult to make when you have a spouse and/or kids who depend on you.  Some people attribute their fears and anxiety to getting old, while others blame it on having dependents.  It all makes sense because your mistake is not just affecting your outcome but can adversely affect others as well.  When I was younger, I wasn’t as worried about losing everything and the possibility of having to sleep in my car.  However, nowadays, financial security is at the top of my list.

    After losing many nights of sleep ruminating over various decisions, I realized there are no guarantees in life.  Furthermore, what matters isn’t whether or not you make the right decision but it’s the growth that comes from exposure and allowing yourself to have new experiences that’s important.  After doing your due diligence and weighing your options, it comes down to your gut feeling and willingness to risk.  Since it’s the process of handling your success and/or failures that counts, how you handle it will directly influence your family.  As long as you demonstrate that regardless of the outcome, you will all be okay and be able to learn from the experience together, then that will put everyone at ease.  Your children are always watching and learning from how you handle different scenarios.  Yes, you will make mistakes.  However, as long as you teach your kids to address them and correct them immediately, then that is your measure of success.  The confidence and independence you instill in your children to properly deal with failures, far outweighs the risks!