Tina

“As you learn to fight, you learn to defend yourself from physical harm. You acquire a powerful self-preserving skill set, and a specific attitude. This attitude carries across to other aspects of your life. So that you can defend yourself from other less tangible but far more dangerous things that can break you—not just your body, but your spirit. Things such as deception, corruption, disparagement, coercion, false accusation and persecution. Subtle evil things that undermine you.”
― Vera Nazarian

“The best way to stop a little debater in his tracks is a tool I call reverse negotiation. It works like a charm. Here is how it is done: you tell your child that negotiating will no longer be tolerated. If you are thinking that it's not that simple, you would be right. But wait, there is more--you add that when your child negotiates, not only does he not get what he was asking for, but he gets less than what he started with. Let's give it a whirl:

PARENT: Bedtime is at eight.
CHILD: I want to stay up until eight thirty.
PARENT: No, it's eight.
CHILD: I want to stay up later.
PARENT: Now bedtime is seven forty-five.
CHILD: Fine, I'll take eight.
PARENT: Now bedtime is at seven thirty.”
― Robin Berman, Permission to Parent: How to Raise Your Child with Love and Limits

“Does writing poetry make you brave? It is a good question to ask. I think making anything is a brave thing to do. Not like fighting brave, obviously. But a kind that looks at a horrible situation and doesn’t crumble.

Making anything assumes there’s a world worth making it for. That you’ll have someplace, like a clown’s pants, to hide it when people come to take it away.

I guess I’m saying making something is a hopeful thing to do.

And being hopeful in a world of pain is either brave or crazy.”
― Daniel Nayeri, Everything Sad Is Untrue

“Labels and comparisons really are no-win. If it is a positive label, kids will always fear losing it. If it is a negative label, someone gets stuck with it.”
― Robin Berman, Permission to Parent: How to Raise Your Child with Love and Limits