Public discourse sure has changed in recent years. Once, leaders offered stirring eloquence and soaring oratory to persuade hearts and minds. Now, we have tweets and grade school insults. To really grasp the significance of this shift, consider FDR’s first inaugural address. Elected three years into the Great Depression, he was tasked with leading a […]
Emotion
Being Disappointed With Your Child
As parents, we can get disappointed with our kids. They may perform below their potential or behave in a way that undermines our expectations of them. Kids are imperfect beings who are still learning the basic rules of life, so they will fall short.
Failure to meet our expectations in some way is almost inevitable for children. How we respond to, and then express, our disappointment to them can have profound and lasting consequences.
The “Near Enemy” of Compassion
This is a tough time to be compassionate. Our national conversation has devolved from a debate of ideas to a zero-sum competition fueled by contempt and personal attack. Our individual connections are being eroded by devices that keep us connected in a strange, abstract way, but deny us true human connection. Increasingly, we are finding […]
It’s Time to Celebrate Your Child’s Failure!
In a series of articles on cultivating grit in your child, I discussed the concept of growth vs. fixed mindset theory. Boiled to its essence, this theory tells us that when a person is presented with a difficult task, they often see the challenge in one of two ways–either it is an opportunity to learn, […]
You Don’t Know How To Get Into Cold Water!
I love Barton Springs pool and as I get older, I appreciate the cold water more and more. One of my favorite ways to start a morning is meditation and a hard workout followed by a dip in that cold water. It soothes my bones and aching muscles, and it reduces inflammation. Barton Springs maintains […]
Is Your Child Too Safe? (part three)
In my last two articles, we explored how efforts to keep children safe have undermined opportunities for kids to engage in risk and danger. As a result, they are being denied experience essential to developing confidence and good judgment. In this article, we’ll look at healthy risk-taking activities that you can provide your child. For […]