TipTop Comic: How to get your toddler to wear a coat.
Any of these sound or look familiar? No doubt there are plenty more ideas, but I try all these on my two-year old daughter, Isla, with varying degrees of success. Parents need tons of sneaky strategies in their repertoire!
If you are a parent, which strategy works/worked for you?
If you’re not a parent, can you invent a bonkers way to get the job done?
Next week: Trust, According to TipTop.
(Sorry I’m a day early in publishing this week. Just got excited.)
Have a TipTop rest of the week,
Rob
London to Oxford, by predestination.
The tale of Dick Whittington whispering in ears;
Fairytales and magic lights banishing fears.
The promise, the lure, The London, so fun;
The things I would do before being outdone.
Then one night, the wind came in from the west
And carried me yonder to a city more blessed:
To Oxford.
City of cities, of meadows and Squires
To a woman, a child and all my desires.
Do positive people find it hard to say “No”?
No.
How much more negative can you get?
It can be a hard word to utter, especially if you are a positive person. Psychologytoday.com deem it to be “the most dangerous word in the world.” (Thanks to my best mate, Marty, from Cosmickids, for that one.)
It took me years and years to come round to the freedom and power saying “No” at appropriate times can give you. I used to exhaust myself feeling like I had to say yes to everything, like some kind of crazed Dice Man. Opportunities are like bubbles: they go in an instant if you don’t take them. But some bubbles are better off floating up and away into the ether; it’s just about knowing which ones…
More mistakes please
When we try to achieve things and it goes wrong in some way, there seem always two ways in which we can choose to react: negatively or positively. In the heat of the moment, there may be disappointment. This is only natural and there’s no point in ignoring a feeling; you can’t argue with a feeling. However, mistakes or perceived failures can be awesome if you let them. And if you are persistent in trying again. And again. Until the mistakes yield and the learning sinks in.
Inventors love mistakes
Did you know why WD-40 is called WD-40? It stands for Water Displacement 40th Attempt – the inventor perfected the Formula after 40 attempts: sheer persistence and an attitude of embracing and learning from mistakes.
Entrepeneurs get rich on mistakes
I don’t know loads of rich entrepeneurs but I do know from what I’ve read and digested that lots of driven business owners go through all kinds of mayhem in previously owned companies when things have gone wrong, mistakes have been made, and much has been learnt as a consequence and applied to good effect in the next company. Embrace mistakes with a positive attitude and boom! You could get rich – not just financially but as a person as a whole.
Children either fear mistakes or are fearless of them
I teach 9 to 13 year-olds and I try to encourage them to experiment and attempt tasks without the fear of failure. Some go for it, with not a care in the world, and accept constructive feedback. Some are hesitant or perfectionist, worrying about making mistakes. Some are super bright and seem never to make mistakes, but almost need to make a few to be healthy or avoid delayed disappointment. But for all of them, mistakes help the learning process. For some people, mistakes are the only way to learn.
How it can hurt to feel less pain
Often in life it seems you can choose to experience a degree of pain to avoid what might otherwise be even more pain. A painful decision – divorce, for example, which is hell to go through, but in the long term can avoid sustained pain and lead to positive opportunities. Physical exercise – a painful discipline at times that puts your body through the mill, but promotes health and well being in the mix. For some, just moving the body in a simple way is a challenge in itself. People with chronic pain condition can experience this on a daily basis, but also for them, moving the body, although painful, is a good thing. For me, Yoga is one discipline I try to turn to regularly, which can be physically hard on the body and a real challenge but I know is good for me. This drawing is for Chiquitar from silentsongstudios.wordpress.com
How “abstract” took shape
Thanks to Mira from keepingtheglasshalffull.com, I was given the word, “abstract” as a prompt to draw something. A sneaky challenge which yielded the drawing below. Hope you like it, Mira! I am enjoying this creative stimulus. Anyone else have a word in mind?
Challenge me to motivate you or a friend with a Mr Oh cartoon
Mutual motivation task: Do you have something you – or a friend – are striving to achieve and need some motivation for? Let me know by leaving a comment, a theme, or a prompt to get me started and I will endeavour to draw something for you. Rob
