To use positive words
One evening at the dinner table my son said, “Dad this food is disgusting.” I thought - where did that word come from? Another time while I was explaining the rules to a game he said, “Now that’s just ridiculous.” A minute later he said, “this is stupid, I give up.” At that moment it dawned on me… He’s getting this stuff from me. From now on I better choose my words carefully.
When my son was born, I imagined how I would teach him about life. Little did I know that he would be the teacher. He taught me:
To look for opportunity everywhere
My son views the entire world and every new person, new object, or new event as an opportunity to learn something. When a new person walks in the room he wants to know who they are and if they would like to play. If I drop a new object into a cluttered room, he will spot it, touch it, pick it up, ask questions about it. Nothing new goes unnoticed.
A new synonym for persistence
Santa Claus brought my son a white board and a set of dry erase makers for Christmas (can you tell I’m in IT). My son learned to write very early. He spent months obsessed with writing letters on the white board. One day I looked at the board while he was writing and I saw this combination of capital letters - SHHANDSHOWBO. He also knows how to sound out words, so I asked him what it was. He said, “It’s a word I made up - Sha-hand-show-bo.” I asked, “What does it mean?” He said, “To keep trying even when it’s hard.” Now when I get frustrated I think - Sha-hand-show-bo.
clipped from: www.steve-olson.com