“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
(Thomas Edison)

Great parenting isn’t a destination where success has been achieved and failure avoided. It’s not a success vs. failure situation at all. Instead, great parenting happens when parents continue to try, viewing “failures” not as demerits but as a part of the daily trial & error process that ultimately helps us discover what works.

The key is learning to spot your own patters, admit when things just aren’t working, and having the willingness to start again in order to achieve the result you want most. To do this, you must be willing to stay calm (even when your kids aren’t) and examine your options before trying again (and again and again).

Thomas Edison may have discovered 10,000 ways that won’t work, but, ultimately, those helped him get some major things right (the phonograph, the motion picture camera, the light bulb). Do we remember his 10,000 failures? Can we even name 10 of them? What we gratefully remember are the results of his perseverance. In a sense, one light (bulb) was greater than 10,000 wrongs.

Embrace your power to try again each day, and watch for your own “light bulb” moments.

Peace begins with pause,