Opinion

I could have rescued my daughter from disappointment. Here's why I didn't

It seems like we have lost our ability to tolerate ordinary childhood struggles

By Katie Davis Fox News

Published October 24, 2026 7:00am EDT

Comments Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Print Email Add Fox News on Google

close

Video

Dr. Katie Davis breaks down why parents shouldn't rescue their children from every disappointment

Dr. Katie Davis joins Fox News Digital to break down why parents should stop rescuing their children from every disappointment and what they should do instead.

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A few weeks ago, my daughter came home from second grade, and she told me she wasn’t invited to her friend Samantha’s birthday party. I asked her if she knew how many kids were invited, and she told me twenty. I was incensed. It was a big party, not a small, exclusive gathering, and my baby was left out. I knew that, in that moment, I could do two things: acknowledge that being left out hurts, or pick up the phone and call Samantha’s mom to secure an invitation. I had to deliberately focus on the former and stop myself from instinctually choosing the latter because, these days, it seems like we are all defaulting to the phone call.

The instinct is understandable. We all hate watching our children suffer. But we need to remember that there is a clear difference between supporting our children through disappointment and making sure they never experience it.

OUR KIDS AREN’T BROKEN. WE NEED TO STOP TREATING EVERY STRUGGLE LIKE A DISORDER

It seems like we have lost our ability to tolerate ordinary childhood struggles. We pathologize and diagnose every negative experience—sadness becomes depression, meanness becomes bullying, and frustration becomes........

© Fox News