Older teens tend to write to me and say, 'Thank you for not writing down to teenagers. '
What did you try hard at today?
Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.
So what should we say when children complete a task—say, math problems—quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes. When this happens, I say, “Whoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let’s do something you can really learn from!
Did I win? Did I lose? Those are the wrong questions. The correct question is: Did I make my best effort?” If so, he says, “You may be outscored but you will never lose.
What can I learn from this? What will I do next time I'm in this situation?
More and more research is suggesting that, far from being simply encoded in the genes, much of personality is a flexible and dynamic thing that changes over the life span and is shaped by experience.
I think these discussions with my father even gave the label of pacifist, particularly with my father, and he mentions this when he turns himself in to prison at La Catedral when he dedicates his action to his 14-year-old pacifist son.
I believe that man was created to enjoy himself, indeed, that he can claim it as his legitimate right. In fact, as long as he lives, man cannot help enjoying himself, even if he tries not. . . . Today the average person, when he hears the word pleasure, immediately thinks of something immoral. But nothing could be more wrong.
I've met a few people who were passive-aggressive, but I've never met anyone who was aggressive-passive. I don't want tacos! Maybe.
There is a public me and a private me, who, if they were separate people, probably wouldn't exchange Christmas cards.