As my longtime readers probably know, I have been facilitating personal growth weekend retreats for kids for the past 26 years. I’ve also been counseling kids, teens and parents in my counseling practice for about 35 years. I am always on the lookout for new stories and quotes for kids and parents to chew on. To start the new year, I thought I’d offer some funny but poignant quotes from hall of fame baseball legend Yogi Berra, a native St. Louisan. These quotes contain a lot of wisdom.
If you don’t know where you are going, you might end up someplace else.
It’s so important for kids to learn to cultivate quiet, alone time to think, problem-solve, meditate and soul search. This is particularly true when children are at transition times and need to make important decisions about schools, jobs or dating partners. It’s in those still moments that we learn who we are and what we want and need. It’s in solitude that we find ourselves.
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
So many of the girls I work with get caught up in their anxiety, ruminating on worst case scenarios and paralyzing them into indecision. Pushing through your fears is a critical life skill. Teach your children to focus on the excitement of changes and transitions.
You can observe a lot by just watching.
I love the depth of this observation. We’ve taught this generation to be constantly plugged into devices, giving things our continuous partial attention and never being fully present with others or themselves. We all need to be encouraged and disciplined to have device-free times where we are fully present and engaged with others.
It ain’t over till it’s over.
Many parents and teachers complain today that kids haven’t developed the muscles of resilience and stick-to-itness and are used to throwing in the towel when things get hard. Kids today have become overly dependent on their parents and other adults to solve their problems and rescue them from adversities. They need to experience that sometimes you must get through the uncertainty and struggles before the path clears up. Resilience is developed through having had the opportunity to try something, fail and get frustrated, try again and fail, try again and succeed and be able to genuinely say to yourself, “I did it!” That feeling of accomplishment and confidence will always be there within them to draw from when confronted with future adversities. Think how much more self-confident and self-reliant your 18-year-old will feel when they go off into the world if you’ve allowed them to build this confidence.
Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes—not from Yogi Berra—which you can pack into your children’s lunch bag as the new semester begins. “Not everyone likes me, but not everyone matters.” Remind your children that they don’t need to hang onto unhealthy friends who bring them down. Learn to surround yourself with positive people who love and care about you and let the others go.
Tim Jordan, M.D., is a behavioral pediatrician who counsels girls aged grade school through college. Listen to his weekly podcast, Raising Daughters, to gain information on raising strong, resilient girls. For more info on his retreats, summer camps and books, visit drtimjordan.com.
