Anger

"I'm furious! I'm so mad that this happened to my child."

Too many parents have had to struggle with the shock of bad news concerning one (or, G-d forbid, more than one) of their children. The worst news, of course, is medical (either physical or mental) illness. But there are many other times when we want to protect our children from hurt and pain but are unable to.

When that happens, our adrenaline rises and we may explode with anger because of the tremendous pain that we ourselves feel.

Yes, that anger is the outpouring of emotion and the need to do something - anything - to stop the threat to our child's happiness and/or health.

Aye, but it won't work. Anger covers up pain and does not alleviate it. Indeed it perpetuates the pain by continuing to place the target in front of us. In order to move on, we must come to terms with the loss of our dream, and then develop an alternative dream that incorporates our new reality.

It takes strength.