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!