I was recently interviewed about the importance of giving during the holidays by a non-profit organization called Operation Warm that is dedicated to helping families in need. During the holiday season, particularly for those of us who have so much, it is a good reminder to give to those who have so little. It is [...]
Obsessive man laying on grass, perfection I've written quite a bit about how unhealthy perfectionism is for both children and adults. Yes, it can drive you maniacally to become successful. But it can also create a powerful fear of failure that ultimately prevents you from being truly successful. Plus, I've never met a happy [...]
To ensure that your children embrace the value of gratitude, you must immerse them in a culture of gratitude. You can do this by weaving gratitude into the very fabric of your family life. Our family has a “Mo’ Grat” ritual every evening when we sit down for dinner. In this case, it means “Moment [...]
In my last post, I described five messages that parents can send to their children to instill the value and practice of gratitude. In this post, I’ll discuss how kind words can be another means through which you can convey the importance of gratitude to your children. My family’s ‘catchphrase’ for gratitude is “Mo’ Grat,” [...]
In my last post, I introduced you to power of gratitude in the lives of children and families. In this post, I will show you how gratitude can be communicated to your children through many conduits. That' s a good thing because, maybe more than any other message, you're going to have to send the [...]
One of the most important—and often neglected—messages that you want your children to get early and often is the power of gratitude. Consider a simple "thank you." Those two words offer a win-win for the sender and the receiver of the message. A surprising and robust finding in the growing body of research that has [...]
Your family life is rife with rituals that can send messages of compassion, kindness, and sharing to your children. When you sit down for a meal, you are sharing your food and each other's company. When you hug and kiss your children good night, you are sharing your love. When you play games together, you [...]
Young people in America don’t seem to be held in a very high regard these days. They’re accused of a veritable rap sheet of bad attitudes and bad behaviors. We constantly hear about the impending Armageddon when the next generations take over our country. Some of the less-than-admirable qualities that are attributed to young people [...]
Raising compassionate children is no small feat these days. Because of the egocentrism of children's early years combined with the increasingly prevalent messages of selfishness, narcissism, and indifference that popular culture communicates to them, children are not likely to readily learn compassion on their own. This means that you have to make an extra effort to [...]
Think of all of the qualities that you admire most in others and that you would most like to instill in your children. My guess is that compassion is high on your list. Why is that? Perhaps because, like diamonds, compassion is a rare gem in a society in which selfishness and disregard for others are as common as rhinestones. Consider what compassion is. Most fundamentally, it is “not about me.” Compassion involves being aware of and caring about the needs of others. It means wanting to help others who are less fortunate than you. Compassion has so many other wonderful attributes associated with it, for example, benevolence, good will, unselfishness, and empathy, just to name a few. If these qualities were ingredients to be mixed and baked, you would have the recipe for about as fine a person as you could imagine.