If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost.
Zig ZiglarRead
That's exactly the way parents develop positive, successful kids. Don't look for the flaws, warts, and blemishes. Look for the gold, not for the dirt; the good, not the bad. Look for the positive aspects of life. Like everything else, the more good qualities we look for in our children, the more good qualities we are going to find.
Interpretation
Focus on the positive traits of children to nurture their success.
In this quote, Zig Ziglar emphasizes the importance of recognizing and fostering the positive qualities in children rather than concentrating on their flaws. By focusing on the 'gold' instead of the 'dirt', parents can encourage their kids to develop self-esteem, confidence, and a positive mindset, ultimately leading to their success in life.
In practice
During a parenting workshop to inspire participants.
If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost.
I read for the 'ah-ha's,' the information that makes a light bulb go off in my mind. I want to put information in my mind that is going to be the most beneficial to me, my family and my fellow man - financially, morally, spiritually, and emotionally.
You cannot rise about your words. A lot of people use foul, pornographic, filthy, language and you SEE, all of those words paint pictures and they reveal the internal thinking of the person on the inside. YOU cannot RISE (forward, onward upward) above your words.
Hope is the foundational quality of all change, and encouragement is the fuel which keeps hope alive.
Setting goals helps bring your future into your present and the present is the only time we can take action.
Happiness is the ability to move forward, knowing the future will be better than the past.
You don't want to be that parent - the one who dresses his kid in a cloth sack when all the other kids are in Armani cloth sacks - especially in a time like ours, when materialism is not only rampant and ascendant but is fast becoming the only game in town.
This is how I learn most of what I know about my children and their friends: by sitting in the driver's seat and keeping quiet.
Those who do too much for their children will soon find they can do nothing with their children. So many children have been so much done for they are almost done in.
There's nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, in trying to bend every child to match a one-size-fits-all notion of what it means to be a boy or girl of a specific age. Better to set a few parameters and then go with the flow. Call it 'jazz parenting.'
The real questions for parents should be: "Are you engaged? Are you paying attention?" If so, plan to make lots of mistakes and bad decisions. Imperfect parenting moments turn into gifts as our children watch us try to figure out what went wrong and how we can do better next time. The mandate is not to be perfect and raise happy children. Perfection doesn't exist, and I've found what makes children happy doesn't always prepare them to be courageous, engaged adults.
Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave, when they think that their children are naive.
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