A follow up on last week on how to help your kids achieve their dreams. I came across an interview with Tom Brady that demonstrates the level of enthusiasm required to truly teach your kids they can achieve their dreams.
It's an (almost) blind faith in the future. It's trusting their life will work out if they aim up, work their butt off, and apply their innate creativity.
In the interview Tom Brad said “When I had these dreams of becoming a professional football player… my parents were there to say ‘Go for it!’ There was no ‘Hey, maybe you should think about a plan B. [football] is really hard, there are a lot of people that want to do those things. Maybe you should try something that is less risky.’ I was all in. I had no Plan B. I always tell parents, ‘don’t tell your kids they can’t do something!”
The words you say to your kids have more influence than anything over the way they see themselves, the world, and their opportunity in it. When you tell them they can’t achieve something, they believe you. And when you tell them they can, they believe you.
No matter what you say or do your children will face failure and pain. People will oppose them, nature will test them. They will be lied to, stolen from, and beaten. It’s in those moments they will hear the words you teach them. Do you want them to hear “maybe choose something less risky”or “you’re capable of anything”?
Tom Brady heard the latter. I heard the latter. I am writing this letter because I want your kids to hear the latter. They deserve it.
Support your own dreams, so you can support their’s.
There is a principle in spirituality that through knowing yourself, you will know others and through loving yourself, you will love others. You experience the world how you experience yourself. The concept extends to supporting your children in achieving their dreams. Through supporting yourself to achieve your dreams, you will support their’s.
You’ve got to live something to understand it. Your mind can know something is true, and you won’t believe it. Your emotions may feel something is true, and you’re still skeptical. But when your body experiences something as true, you understand. You may think your child can achieve anything, even feel it in your heart, but if you haven’t experienced the miracle of walking into the unknown to pursue a deep want or desire and coming out the other side better than you went in, you can’t know it’s true that your child's life will work out if they pursue their dreams, even at great risk of failure.
What do you dream of at your core? In your wildest dreams, what would you create in your life and for your community? When you dream, what makes your heart ache with content-ness and your skin tingle?
Start to do that thing. Take a small step towards it today. It's a big ask, I know. But I wouldn't ask if I didn't know you're capable of it. Do it for yourself and do it for your children.
Peter
