Changing Ourselves to Change the World

Kevin D. Arnold, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., begins:

Psychologists often say that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. We all see the truth of this maxim: we do what we know--or do we? Is it possible that we know many ways to react? Do many of us feel as if we have no choice but to fatalistically repeat the past? Fatalism, as an attitude, forces us to repeat what we think and do. But, what if we could break free of fatalism? Can we change the world by first changing ourselves? http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...ange-the-world

He talks about fatalism and how to change before adding a final word:

As parents, we prepare our children for the world of today....and tomorrow. Parents struggle to teach kids to change and adapt—it’s a challenge to do as a parent, let alone teach the skill to children. But we, as parents, will do best to remember that the best teacher is how we show our children to live by example. As parents, if we model flexibility in our routines, we can teach adaptation. Through our struggles and successes, our children learn to welcome the challenges of an ever changing world. We show our children that the problems facing our world can be managed through innovation and empowerment. Our gift to our little ones is the belief that they can handle whatever may come. Instead of "Yes we can," we can help them to live by the motto "Of course we can."

The article is rather short and rapidly gets to the point. To benefit children, we first must learn to adapt. If we might embrace the condition precedent, teaching children innovation will be much more viable.

Yes our children learn by example, compassion of communication & assurance of future possibilities they choose. Be the parent, not their friend.

Also we as parents make our mistakes, apologize to them if warranted.

One day, with any luck, they will understand we did our best.

I also acknowledge that a fair amount of people had rough childhood's or really no childhood at all. Some of it they can't remember. Some do remember the trauma & struggle to move past it. I validate your pain.

Don't know if this helped, just my two cents.