| d="body"> | | | | both failure and success. If we raise our children to |
| There's an old joke about two schoolboys that | | | | expect failure--indeed to deem themselves as |
| basically goes as follows: Johnny, one of the boys, | | | | failures--then guess what? Failure is as certain as a |
| would go off to school every morning, and as he left | | | | downpour from three large overhanging black clouds. |
| his mother would yell, "Johnny, don't forget your | | | | On the contrary, if we breed into our children a |
| lunch!" The other boy, Steven, would go off, and as | | | | self-perception of success and triumph, then success |
| he did, his mother would yell, "Steven, don't forget | | | | is as certain as daybreak after dark. |
| your books!" Johnny grew up to be a successful | | | | Remember parents. Your children--our children---are |
| restaurateur and Steven a world-renowned brain | | | | our future. We need to handle them with great care. |
| surgeon. | | | | There is enough criticism to go around for a |
| I think you get the gist of the joke. Johnny's mother, | | | | thousand generations. In raising our kids, let's not |
| by placing an emphasis on lunch, unwittingly steered | | | | make the mistake of buffeting them with constant |
| her son to pursue a gastronomic career; whereas, | | | | criticism. If you want your kids to do well in school, |
| Steven's mother, by placing an emphasis on books, | | | | convince them that they are smart and will do well in |
| either consciously or unconsciously steered her son | | | | school. If you want them to be aces in math, expect |
| toward a career in medicine. As Gordon Gekko said in | | | | them to be whiz kids and tell them how smart they |
| the movie Wall Street, "The illusion has become real, | | | | are with numbers and that sort of thing. |
| and the more real it becomes, the more desperate | | | | Watch the results as the illusion becomes real. If you |
| they want it." By relating this quote back to the joke | | | | doubt what I say, try this out for a short period of |
| of the two schoolboys, you can see that the illusion | | | | time and see the changes that occur in your kids. |
| of being smart to Steven had become very real | | | | Force upon them naturally the desire to want the |
| indeed. Whether he was born smart or not does not | | | | illusion. Once you set this force in motion, the rest is |
| matter. Once the illusion crystallizes into reality, the | | | | self-fulfilling. After all, what is the alternative? If you |
| desire to attain the object behind it becomes | | | | try this and your kid does not end up a brain |
| desperate. | | | | surgeon, he might end up being a very successful |
| The point here is that self-perception is critical to | | | | restaurateur. |