Have your kids ever been utterly destroyed by the little voice within….the one that sneakily tells them they're worthless and hopeless and just all-around icky-poo?
Yep. My kids too.
'Matter of fact, it happened yesterday *again*!
But this time…..with a huge difference.
You see, HS1 and HS2's Inner Heroes finally came to their rescue with dramatically magnificent results.
Not only that, but while they were at camp, I was able to make for them a physical representation of their greatness that they'll *never* forget.
Here's what happened.
A few days ago, HS1 completely and totally lost it regarding his emotional control; I wrote about that over at How To Proactively Fling Your Children OFF Of The Despair Tracks Before It’s Too Late.
Now, I've been talking about their Inner Heroes now for quite awhile, but that conversation….I really focused on the concept and hammered home how they're *not* alone – they have the ability to let their Inner Heroes take command of the bad feelings, neutralize them effectively and in essence, help them save the day.
So here's what I did the following day.
1.) I picked up some black rocks at the local baseball diamond.
They looked something like this.
Ain't they all pretty-like?
Then…
2.) I looked for coupons from my local Michaels.
And I found them over at:
On the day I printed out the coupons, there was a 40% discount for a single item.
Woot!
Next…
3.) I bought black glossy acrylic paint and a large glass diamond!
It looked something like this.
The next step was to:
4.) After returning home, I painted the rocks a glossy black…and wrapped up the diamond in some soft paper.
Can you guess what the shiny black rocks represented?
And then…I waited for camp to finish.
When HS1 and HS2 came home, here's what I told him.
"Boys, remember how tough yesterday's issues were for you to deal with? HS1, you told me how the little voices inside your head kept telling you, you were worthless, right?
Well, here's something for you. (I handed them the black rocks). Can you guess these are? Well, okay, yes, they *are* painted black rocks, but they're *supposed* to be coal. See how shiny they are?
And what happens when coal gets heated and pressurized and tormented and squooshilated and all-around been put through torments of fire and pain?
They turn into this (I handed them the glass diamonds)!
You see, you might have times that you think you're worthless, like coal.
But remember, every pain you go through, every tough time you endure, every problem you successful tackle – it helps transforms you into your real self – a sparkling diamond.
What do you think?"
Needless to say, HS1 and HS2 were rendered speechless…and loved the whole concept. Here's the final product:
Which brings me to the point of this post.
When you introduce the concept of your child's Inner Hero, you're giving them a concrete image of strength, nobility and power they can hold onto with both hands.
Add to that a real live diamond … and they now have a shining physical reminder they can keep by their desks or computer as well.
Make no mistake about it.
You, as a parent, can not always stop your children from feeling lousy and swamped with negative emotions.
But…when you give them the confidence to refer back to their Inner Hero, they'll learn to proactively halt those horrible feelings and pull *themselves* out of despair.
And that, of course, can only be termed as a Very Good Thing indeed.
Parent powerfully,
— MamaBear
