What Smart Kids Know about Persistence

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Read and discuss inspirational stories of persistence with your child early and often.



Nothing great or extraordinary was ever accomplished without a healthy dose of perseverance. It matters not what we hope to achieve in life, whether it’s success in school, a career, wealth or a wonderful family life. We cannot hope to excel if we do not learn the value of persistence and work. Developing the attitude that obstacles are just challenges to be overcome together with a solid work ethic is surest road to success in any endeavor.
When you first hear stuff like “work ethic” you may think, jeez, that doesn’t sound like very much fun. But as you grow you will find that the accomplishments that come with a good work ethic can bring the greatest joys into your life. The good work habits that you develop early in life can lead you anywhere you want to go, to become anything you want to be.
It has been said that “anything that the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve” and mankind has proved this to be true time after time. Many born into disadvantage and poverty have amassed great wealth and power. Men and women with little formal education have become great inventors, captains of in industry, leaders of nations, sports super stars and heroes. But all these things also required perseverance and a solid work ethic.


Thomas Edison was born in1847 the youngest of 7 children. He was only able attended school for a short time and was principally self educated at home with his mothers help. His self education continued throughout his life. Edison went on to become America’s most prolific inventor and amassed 1093 patents in his lifetime, His Inventions included electric power, the electric light, movies, records, and batteries to name a few. Can you imagine what your life would be like without these things?
When someone called him a genius, Mr. Edison replied, “ genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” He meant, even the best ideas need to be backed up with persistence and a lot of work to succeed.


Madame Marie Curie was the world’s most famous woman scientist--and so she remains today. Marie was born in Warsaw in 1867. She had a brilliant aptitude for study and a great thirst for knowledge; however, advanced study was not possible for women in Poland at that time. Marie dreamed of going to Paris where women could study, but this was beyond the means of her family.
Faced with these monumental obstacles most people would have given up their dreams, but not Marie. As a child her parents taught her that “where there’s a will, there’s a way” Meaning if you wanted something badly enough and never gave up, you could always find a way.
To solve her problem, Marie went to her older sister and made a deal: Marie would go to work as a governess [babysitter] and help her sister with the money she managed to save so that her sister could study medicine in Paris. When sister had taken her degree she, in her turn, would contribute to the cost of Marie's studies.
So, it was not until she was 24 that Marie came to Paris to study mathematics and physics. By then she had been away from her studies for six years. On top of that she hadn’t had any training in understanding rapidly spoken French. But her keen interest in studying and her joy at being at school with all its opportunities helped her surmount all difficulties. To save herself a two-hour' journey, she rented a little attic in the Latin Quarters. There, the cold was so intense, that at night she had to pile on everything she had in the way of clothing so she able to sleep.
But as compensation for all her sacrifices she had total freedom to be able to devote herself wholly to her studies. "It was like a new world opened to me, the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty", she writes.. After only two years, when she took her degree in physics in 1893, she headed the list of candidates and, in the following year, she came second in a degree in mathematics. After three years she had brilliantly passed examinations in physics and mathematics.
During the next four years the Marie, working in a leaky wooden shed, would process tons of ore, laboriously isolating from it a fraction of a gram of radium. Marie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery of radioactive elements. Marie Curie was the first female recipient of a Nobel Prize; it was the first time a woman had ever won a Nobel. In 1911, Madam Curie became the first and only woman to win a second Nobel Prize. She earned the award in chemistry for isolating pure radium. Marie became head of the Paris Institute of Radium in 1914 and helped found the Curie Institute.


In 1999 Michael Jordan retired from the NBA as the game’s greatest superstar. When he first started playing basketball, however, he wasn't very good. His older brother, Larry, was much better than he was. Determined to improve, Jordan spent hours practicing. Nonetheless, despite all his practicing, when he got to high school, he didn't make the varsity team. He was so disappointed that he thought about quitting basketball altogether. But he didn't give up.

Still determined, Jordan kept on practicing every chance he got. As a result, he greatly improved and had hopes of being picked to play with the varsity team in the state tournament. Once again he was disappointed. But he still didn't give up and he kept practicing. Finally, in his junior year of high school he made the varsity team. In his senior year Jordan practiced even harder, because he wanted to play basketball in college.

He practiced so hard, in fact, that he started skipping classes and was suspended from school. After that, he practiced hard at schoolwork as well as basketball to make sure he would go to the school of his choice, University of North Carolina. Through perseverance, patience and a lot of practicing, Michael Jordan rose to the top.

So you see, if you want something badly enough and you’re willing to work for it, you can accomplish wonderful thing. Just like Thomas, Marie and Mike.

Remember: Winners never quit and quitters never win!

Modern Science and Ancient Wisdom Agree on Early Education Practices

Since the dawn of mankind, each generation has faced the challenge of passing accumulated wisdom to the next generation. For early mankind, technical information, like how to make an arrowhead, build a shelter or plant a crop were passed on from father to son or thru an apprenticeship. Mothers passed on to daughters the many skills that it took to maintain a healthy home and family.
These skills were so important to the continued success of a community that often the entire village would be involved in the process. But, from the beginning it was apparent that children needed to learn more than basic skills if they were to prosper and grow to be productive and successful adults.
Traits like good judgment, honesty, perseverance and moral values were essential if any civil community was to be maintained. However, instilling virtues like common sense, courage and the difference between right and wrong demanded a much more complex process.
How should these abstract concepts be taught? When should the lessons begin? How could these essential core values be instilled for a lifetime? These questions have been asked by every civilization that has ever flourished. Amazingly each arrived at the same premise.
On every continent, each human group came to the same conclusion, fundamental strength of character, traits like perseverance, compassion and honesty could only be lastingly taught to the very young. If you wait until a child has grown too adolescent, the best chance of implanting the seeds of a strong moral compass will have been missed.
But, how could such complexities of thought be conveyed to young children? Well, first and most importantly, you will need to capture the child attention, imagination and interest. Next, you need to make the information easy to remember to make a lasting impression. Lastly the lessons will need to be reinforced in ways that the child enjoys and that lead to increased self-esteem.
Each civilization, in turn, discovered ways to impress young children with the lasting principles so important to a bountiful life. They found that the use of short stories, proverbs, fables and sayings could make a lasting impression on a child’s life skills. That once instilled these values would last a lifetime.

Many of these antidotal tales have been around since before there was written language. Preserved as oral traditions these time tested moral reference pointers were repeated for untold generations.
The written word has continued to preserve and add to these traditional stories. In literature, philosophies and religion these words of wisdom continue to provide a solid foundation to build a fruitful and successful life upon.
In the modern age with its radio, television pop-up books and play stations many of these time-tested teaching tools fell to the way-side. It is the belief of many that study in this field that this lack of early training is the root cause of much what troubles society today. Those critical moral way-points are no longer being introduced during the child’s most retentive and impressionable development period.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom for Kids

Long, long ago before there were computers or the internet.before TV’s. dvd’s, play stations or even the radio. Long before there were schools or books or even writing, every parent that ever lived wanted the same things for their children that parents want today.They wanted them to be happy and successful in life. They wanted to watch them grow to become balanced, wise, productive, good and kind adults.
So back before there were schools or writing or anything; how do you think all those parents, passed on wisdom to their kids? How could they give them the mental tools that they would need to grow up to be good and kind and brave and happy?
Well for hundreds of generations the way that they taught important principles was to tell stories, proverbs, rhymes and fables that would help imprint vital information.
They wanted their children to remember these vital bits of wisdom all of their lives.Each of these stories, fables or old sayings would contain a moral or a common sense viewpoint that would help a child remember certain moral waypoints as they grew.
The first thing that would be needed was to capture a child’s full attention.  Kids have always been kids, so first of all the stories, puzzles, etc. had to be interesting or funny or even scary. They needed to be easy to remember. That way when the kids found themselves in a tricky situation, they could relate to the story and make good decisions.
Who do you think made-up these stories?
Well it was almost always the smartest men and women in the land. In every county people would turn to their brightest people for nuggets of wisdom to pass on to their children. In this way the wisdom passed from one generation to the next.
There were stories for almost every kind of problem a person could have. Like how to make friends and keep them. How to stay out of dangerous situations and what to do if you got into one. Stories that taught common sense, self esteem work ethic and inner beauty.
All of these times tested and proven teaching tool are available to you. Modern science and research has provided much more. But how much you and your child get out of it is completely up to you. Studies prove that as little as 15 minutes spent each day with your child and these teaching activities will have a lifelong effect on your child’s success in life. We now know that you the parent can be the most important teacher in your child’s life. It is our hope to give you all the tools you need.