The Nature of Trust

According to ">dictionary.com trust can be a noun, adjective or verb. Trust has 24 definitions.

The definitions that seem to pertain the most to my thoughts recently are these:
to have trust or confidence in; rely or depend on.
to believe.
to expect confidently; hope.

Before our frustrations of the previous week, I would have said that I had trust or confidence in my children. I knew I was able to rely or depend on them and wouldn't have doubted that trust. Over the last week I've wondered how I managed to misjudge the level of responsibility my children were able to handle and how we could repair the relationship that had been damaged.

My children let themselves down and they let me down with their behavior. They are only beginning to realize the toll that their lack of judgement has taken. They've been working this weekend to make up the work that they didn't do when assigned. They understand now that it would have just been easier to do the work as expected. The next few weeks will help them understand the loss freedom and the process necessary to earn back trust. I hope it will also help them understand the benefits of having trusting relationships. I pray that this experience will enable them to appreciate trust in a way they didn't last week.

While I no longer have the confidence to rely on my children (trust) I do expect confidently and hope (trust) that this lesson will be learned well and that we will all be better because of it.