21st Century Family

I find it amazing that two people looking at the exact same thing can have totally different perspectives. The old glass is half full analogy is perfect. If the glass is exactly filled to the half way mark, one person will see it as half full while another half empty. In our families this is extremely important. Parents get really upset about grades and sports performance until their child is in an accident or falls very ill. At that point the perspective shifts quickly to health being the only really important thing. What’s amazing is that what was an incredibly important issue the day before is no longer important at all. However, what is even more amazing is that after the health or emergency has faded the perspective shifts back to being worried about same unimportant things you were concerned about before the accident or illness. It’s pretty amazing because a perspective can actually shift back and forth quite quickly at times.

What are we teaching our kids about perspective? How do we teach them to see the glass is half full? For starters we know that kids learn from watching their parents so we have to look in the mirror at our own perspectives. Do we consistently see the positive in situations or the negative? If it’s negative, then we have to ask “why?” and would another “positive” person see the exact same situation in a positive light? I’m obviously wading into a complex issue with many layers but my encouragement today is to at least begin the journey and begin to really take the time to look at how you view things from several different “lenses” and start to make the choice to “shift” your perspective to the positive side. Don’t wait for an accident or illness to shift it for you!