It was one of those days when the family split into separate rooms of the house to complete our own tasks. 

My husband was at work replacing the front door knob. I was in the midst of taking apart a paper shredder after a particularly thick envelope had gotten caught up in the teeth, and my daughter was tackling the replacement of a second doorknob. It was a task I’d requested, and to which they’d promised to try, with the caveat that they might require some assistance. 

“All I ask is that you try,” I said, before disappearing into my office with a long screwdriver, a butter knife and the vacuum cleaner. 

I was working the screwdriver slowly along the jammed bits of paper when I heard the exchange between my spouse and child. The doorknob went on easily, but the jamb would not line up just right to ensure the lock would catch, and he’d tried a series of different fixes — all to no avail. 

And then the teenager, who only moments before had expressed trepidation over installing a knob on their own, was volunteering advice on making the fix. 

The suggestion worked. 

Their willingness to try paid off, and they were then able to turn back to their own task, where they likewise found success — this time accepting a bit of help from Dad.

As I finally pried the last bits of tangled envelope from the clutches of the (now unplugged) shredder with the help of the random tools I’d pulled together from around the house, I couldn’t help but consider the importance of the lesson for a teenager soon slated to depart for college. 

Each parent, when faced with a challenge, could have thrown up our hands and walked away. 

Instead we, very simply, tried to find a solution. 

Each of us made mistakes along the way, and each of us risked making the problem just a little bit worse before we could make it better. 

Each was willing to break things just a little in order to put it back together. 

And when an alternative solution came along, my husband in particular was wide open to accepting the advice, to his own benefit. 

Isn’t that what we want most from this next generation of adults?

That they face adversity with a willingness to keep going? That they try, and if at first they don’t succeed, they’re willing to try again? That they’re open to weighing other’s opinions and suggestions for the sake of moving forward?

With each day that passes closer to our trip to move our child into college, the tears come ever closer to flowing. But it’s reminders like this that keep them at bay. 

The kid is (probably) going to be alright.