Your daughter is just seven, so she’s only just beginning to understand that being jealous, while natural, is something she needs to work to overcome. She’s bound to slip and fall many times over the coming years, and while you should never condone tantrums and other overt displays of jealousy, you should never condemn her for being only too human.
Chinuch doesn’t mean getting our children to the finish line; it means setting them down at the start line, showing them the end goal, and encouraging them along the way. An essential part of that encouragement is teaching by example, and when it comes to jealousy, we certainly have plenty of opportunities to show our children how we struggle and overcome, struggle and overcome, and again, and again...
We also need to teach our children about the importance of having an ayin tovah and wanting the best for others, as we show them that we want the best for them.
Ultimately, we only benefit from refining our own middos, and when we transmit to our children the happiness and satisfaction of living a Torah life in all its aspects, we have the best chances of seeing our children following in our path.
