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Courage
  The Lion in The Wizard of Oz was looking for courage & it’s the same
  for us -  as being a human being is tough – it takes courage to ride the
  ups and downs of life. It’s packed full of good and bad experiences,
  frustrations, disappointments and challenges. It’s a risky and
  precarious adventure so developing courage in your children is
  important.


  This one attribute alone was enough for Rudolph Dreikurs, the
   renowned psychiatrist and parent educator, to say that if we could
  give children only one quality to help them succeed and manage life it
  would be courage.
  Toddlers are amazing as they show courage in everything that they do
  from learning to walk, to learning to talk, to learning to climb and to
  balance, to learning how to open doors & put on wellies, they show
  courage as they go from one mistake to another until they master that

  skill.
  That takes courage.


  Think back on your life – it took courage to go to playgroup, start
  school, go to secondary school, to leave home, start a new job or get
  married. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway as the Susan Jeffers
  book encourages. Babies, infants and toddlers experience frustration,
  disappointment, hurt, anger and fear just like we do and I admire them
  so much for their tenacity to keep going. But that courage stands them
  in good stead for the whole of their lives.


  As Franklin D. Roosevelt is quoted
  as saying, ‘Courage isn’t the absence
  of fear but the ability to overcome it.’



  Children without courage focus on what they can’t do. They give up
  and avoid situations. They miss out on life’s wonderful experiences
  through fear. A child with a ‘Can Do’ attitude shows courage, feels
  hopeful & optimistic and is willing to try and have a go. They develop
  tenacity and resiliency. They embrace life and all its opportunities.
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