It's people who make things happen -- not wishing or pretending. To make something happen, a person has to work at it. And that takes inner discipline.

We don't know exactly why some children seem to keep on trying to do something until they succeed and why others seem so ready to give up. It's possible that we are born one way or another, but, even so, that is not the only answer. It seems that everyone feels frustrated and discouraged once in a while. It is our different ways of coping with those feelings that are among the many important things we learn.

Working Step by Step

If children are asked to do things that are far beyond what they are able to do, they may come to feel that trying is useless because it never works. On the other hand, if children are encouraged to do things that they can accomplish with a little effort, they may, very early on in their lives, discover the fun that comes with doing something well. Then they have the chance of growing up knowing that the trying always comes first, but that it's worthwhile, because trying is a path that can take us to where we want to go.

Being Supportive

Above all, the willingness and the courage to keep on trying develops best if there is someone we love close by who can lend us some of the strength we do not yet have within ourselves...not someone who will do a task for us when we can't do it for ourselves, but rather someone who will share our times of trying just by being around and being supportive...someone who can sustain a belief that we can succeed even when we doubt it ourselves. We all need people like that -- grownups as well as children.

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Mister Rogers' company, Family Communications, offers these initiatives related to discipline::
Challenging Behaviors
Learning Discipline