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Written by Rabbi Stephen Baars
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Before I came to these United States, I had no idea how easy it was to raise healthy, optimistic, energetic, and wildly open minded children. Apparently, it’s all down to shampoo
and breakfast cereal.
I am also informed that if you pick out the right fabric softener your kids will love you and your life will become stress free - wow.
That has to be the reason why so many parents are bemused and confused that their teenage children give them so much grief.
I mean, they bought all the right brands, color coordinated their living room and even said “no” to drugs. Yet, their children didn’t laugh all the time, like the ones bouncing down the stairs holding the latest fluffy toilet roll.
Spend one evening in front of the television (not recommended) and the message is clear: children who brush with the right tooth paste (I’m not going to tell you which one I use) don’t worry, and they make it abundantly clear, the only reason the parents worry, is they don’t drive the right car.
What’s next? Dog food that reduces the national debt, eye glasses that bring world peace, and tea that stops the polar ice caps from melting?
In the never ending brand wars a line was crossed. Brand "X" coffee promised something that brand "Y" did not. That promise might be finding love, peace, wisdom, and the winning lottery numbers. And even though it's just coffee, for some reason people seem to buy the product with the bigger lie.
And so do our children. You may instruct them that if they study hard and work diligently they will succeed in life, but so does Nike for just wearing their latest endorsed shoes.
The more designer our lives have become, the more generic the children seem to be, with all the generic problems associated.
I have more than a sneaking suspicion that the less confidence children have, the more brand-name shoes they need to buy. Not only don't famous names on your clothing do anything for confidence, the sad truth is that it’s the antithesis.
If you want to give your children real confidence to follow their dreams, you have to show them how to dream big.
When children don’t know how to dream big, they end up following their desires. To them these desires will seem like dreams, but they end up being nightmares.
Parenting is not just teaching your children how to tie their shoelaces (or Velcro) or how to stay safe, it's about giving them the right stuff inside to make them succeed in life.
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