I believe in the power of imagination because I have experienced myself! I have a childhood story that warms my heart, and has been the inspiration of a “pay it forward” of sorts as I now do the same thing with my kids. I am using parenting tricks I learned from my own parents 😉 The Magic of Parenting.
Here is my story. When we were in school, I was having a hard time with one of my classes. My entire school year was pending on this one final test of the dreadful subject.
.
To give me a push of self-confidence, my dad gave me a small candy, and told me it was a magic one. So, I had nothing to worry about because I was going to Ace the test. To tell the truth, no one, including the teacher thought any of us would do good on the test. It really didn’t seem I had much of a chance. I do remember Dad being very mysterious about the candy. He made sure I couldn’t see it, couldn’t smell it or feel it until it was in my mouth.
After two very long and agonizing weeks, the results came in. To everyone’s surprise (me most of all) I had passed with flying colors!
Everyone was amazed. My friends started asking me how I had done it. Word went around that it had been my magical candy.
From then on, every time a hard test was upon us, we would turn to Dad for our piece of magical candy. Dad would prescribe larger doses from time to time, especially when we started with physics and calculus classes. This went on until the day we graduated high school.
Dad’s trick was his travels. They gave him access to candies we wouldn’t recognize. That is why we were never able to figure out what the magic really was. Good thing we never uncovered the truth because we believed in the magic candy on many tests! Today I know the magic was his love and support.
As a parent today, my secret candy comes in the form of “Magic Feel Good” pill. These are small vitamin C chewable pills that do wonders to make anxiety tummy aches disappear or boost self-esteem. This is thanks to the #placeboeffect, a remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo – a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, water, or saline – can sometimes improve a patient’s condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. Expectation plays a significant role in the placebo effect – the more a person believes they are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that they will experience a benefit.
How do you boost self-confidence for your kids?
Privacy -Disclosure
Leave a Reply