Page 18 - ebook 9keys

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.