halrunkel
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” (Thomas Edison)
Being a successful parent is not about avoiding failure. Successful parenting happens when parents continue to try, and learn to view “failures” as trial-and-error experiments that ultimately help them discover what works.
The key is knowing when to admit things aren’t working and being willing to start over. To do this, you will have to stay calm (even when your kids aren’t) and examine what you’ve been doing that hasn’t worked. In that calm space you can think through alternatives. What could you do differently?
Then, like Edison, try and try again and again. He may have discovered 10,000 ways to do something that wouldn’t work, but, eventually, those “wrongs” helped him get some major things right! Besides, no one remembers even 10 of his failures. What we do remember is the light bulb and the phonograph and the film projector and…well, the list could go on and on.
The point is: embrace your power to try again each day — leaving behind the ways you’ve discovered don’t work. Eventually, the light bulb will come on!
Peace begins with a pause,
Hal
