Think about how powerful a value this is! We need:
courage to say "no"
courage to not follow the crowd when friends are using bad judgment.
courage to stand up for someone who is being picked on.
courage to follow our own dreams.
courage to try new things.
courage to make new friends.
courage to talk to the lonely.
What parent would not want this value for his or her children! We invite you to focus and to concentrate on the value of COURAGE throughout the month of August. Look for examples of it (or the lack of it) in everyday life, on television, and in the actual lives of you and your child. Find stories on courage — not just the big, heroic kind, but the everyday kind as well. Compliment your children for anything they do that takes even a little bit of courage. Teach them quotes like Shakespeare's, "Our doubts are traitors that make us lose the good we oft might win by failing to attempt."Or share Teddy Roosevelt's thoughts o the subject: "In the battle of life, it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out where the brave man stumbled or where the doer of the deed could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena."
By Richard and Linda Eyre
