Hanging Tough

In Perseverance Pays Off from Sioux's Page, Sioux asks,

“What did your family teach you about persistence and perseverance? What have been some of the toughest tasks--or the funniest--to slog through? Non-musical minds want to know..”

I remember my parents telling me that if I was going to do something, do it the best I could. Failure was never an option in my family. Sometimes it overwhelmed me and other times it sustained me during tough times.

There are many times that I really don’t want to do something even though I know it is the right thing to do. I feel that I might fail or it might be too much work or I might just not want to do it. But in the back of my mind, I think of all the things my parents did or sacrificed for me and I do it anyway.

I look back at some of the things my parents did and I think about why they did them. I know that we didn’t go to the doctor much and my parents promoted good health. Now I look back and I’m not sure we even had health insurance back then so good health was important. Now I know why they insisted that I not have any cavities when I went to the dentist!

My father worked 6 days a week and my mother stayed home and took care of three daughters. My mother made all of my clothes and at the time I was a teenager, I resented having to wear homemade clothes. Now I look back and see all the things my mother went without so she could buy material for me to have new clothes.

My parents insisted on good grades and I thought at the time they were just being strict Chinese parents. I never thought that they might be looking ahead and hoping that if I wanted to go to college that I could qualify for scholarships to help pay for this education.

At the time I was living at home, I realize what a selfish and self centered child I was. But my parents loved me anyway.

I’m just thankful that I can look back now and really appreciate their persistence in raising three girls who could be independent and good citizen. I’ve seen some students now that I’m not sure will ever have the opportunities that I had because they haven’t learned to persevere and be persistent. They have not learned how to sacrifice and work hard towards a goal. I really believe that kids in today’s world have it much too easy. They give in too easily and don’t know how to hang tough.

Hanging tough is important in order to be successful in today’s world.

How do you teach a student to hang tough? Please share.

Image: 'ad4028' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24711727@N02/2342289314
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