Never give up

Have you heard someone say "I can't do this" and just give up? We all at one point in our lives have said that haven't we? What happens when you give up? I mean do you learn how to do what ever it was you were trying or did you learn how to be lazy? My son is 5 years old and has mild Cerebral Palsy. He doesn't know he has it because we have never said "David you have limitations, you have Cerebral Palsy" He thinks all kids have to do PT because we've never told him different. He wears ankle braces that we call "Special shoes" they're special because no one else he knows has shoes like them. What are we teaching him? How to not give up, not to use his "issues" as a crutch. I don't even like saying the word "Disease" to describe it, he has "issues" with things, we're working on it. My son is in karate, something most kids with this wouldn't dream about. What separates him? Me. I don't let him give up. I don't let him say "I can't." He must try and most of the time, he tries until he gets it right. He's learned this attitude through me, and not necessarily because I push him (because I do).

Take me for example. I have said "I can't read patterns" when I crochet. I honestly can't because I have never been taught how to. Now, I can crochet just about anything I want just by looking at the picture given with the pattern, so I've never had the need to learn how to read. So, I bought a book the other day to "teach me how to crochet" and am working on learning how to read patterns. Why? Because David heard me say "I can't read patterns" and called me out on the word "can't." Cheeky little man that one is. He has seen me try and try to read the pattern, get frustrated but didn't give up. I'm at it again the next day. This teaches him that I practice what I preach, another very important lesson.

Karate as well. When we first started him in karate, almost 2 years ago, he had a pretty hard time running. He would run a few steps and fall, get up run a few steps and fall. He would sometimes get very frustrated because he was falling. He's stuck with it, and now, he's one of the fastest kids in his class and LOVES to run the laps. As a matter of fact, if he's late for class, he whines because he missed the running part of warm-ups. It goes to show you he's learning how to give things his all.

My thoughts: It's very important to set good examples for your kids. You've heard people say "watch what you say around your kids, they hear everything." Isn't it scarier that they see everything that you do?