---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Chances are that any helpful two-year-old…"
description: "\"Chances are that any helpful two-year-old will break some eggs. We are often not very good at things when we are new. But there may be an important cho..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14c/rachel-naomi-remen-3110_boxes_chances-are-that-any-helpful-two-year-ol_24554.jpg"
---

#  Chances are that any helpful two-year-old will break some…

![“Chances are that any helpful two-year-old will break some eggs. We are often not very good at things when we are new. But there may be an important choice to make at such moments. Do we support and protect the innate wish to be of help to others in our children, or do we protect the eggs? Hard as…” quote by Rachel Naomi Remen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14c/rachel-naomi-remen-3110_boxes_chances-are-that-any-helpful-two-year-ol_24554.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14c/rachel-naomi-remen-3110_boxes_chances-are-that-any-helpful-two-year-ol_24554.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14c/rachel-naomi-remen-3110_boxes_chances-are-that-any-helpful-two-year-ol_24554.jpg)

> “Chances are that any helpful two-year-old will break some eggs. We are often not very good at things when we are new. But there may be an important choice to make at such moments. Do we support and protect the innate wish to be of help to others in our children, or do we protect the eggs? Hard as it seems, the greater mother wisdom may lie in a willingness to clean up broken eggs or replace a mitten and a box of crayons.”

[Rachel Naomi Remen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-naomi-remen/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Parents must decide whether to nurture a child's instinct to help, even if it leads to mistakes, or to shield them from failure. The deeper lesson is that growth often comes from handling brokenness rather than preventing it.

**In simple terms:** Balancing protective instincts with encouraging helpfulness in kids.

Key Takeaway

Embrace messes as learning opportunities.

Themes

parenting growth mindset risk taking resilience empathy

Mood

thoughtful encouraging reflective

Type

advice philosophical parenting

When to use this quote

- a child spilling paint
- a toddler breaking a toy
- a kid offering to help with chores
- a child attempting a new skill

Key Concepts

child development helpfulness failure protective instincts

Practical Applications

- teaching kids to clean up after mistakes
- allowing children to assist despite potential errors

Questions to Reflect On

- How can we model constructive responses to failure for children?
- What boundaries protect safety while fostering helpfulness?

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[Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Important choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important-choices/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Mittens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mittens/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Support](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/support/) [Two year olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two-year-olds/) [Willingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/willingness/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/)

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