Ever met someone who lets every little negative thing said to them effect their attitude and control their life with worry. I believe if we could teach our children one of life’s great lessons, it would be to not wear your feelings on you sleeve and let what someone else says, determine who you are.

For our Sunday school at church, we share a classroom with the church school that meets during the week. There is a plaque sitting behind where the school teacher sits that reads, “don’t be soft.” I believe that is pretty good advice to teach our young children.

For those of you who know me, know that I stutter. When I was in elementary school, other kids and even some teachers used to really laugh at me when I was ask a question or gave an answer. As I look back on those moments, I don’t regret one bit of it because it cured me at a young age of ever worrying about what someone else thought about me. If we could somehow teach our children this (without the stuttering part) what a gift that would be from a parent to a child. I think even God has a sense of humor because he made a man that stutters a salesman. Ha

When someone says something to you that was meant to hurt your feelings, try to imagine standing in a shower while the water just runs off your back. That is the way it should be when someone tries to hurt you with words. Just let it run off your back. What was the rhyme we learned as children? “Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

So, make up your mind that you will not be thin-skinned (let everything said hurt you) and don’t be soft (overly sensitive) because as best I can tell, there will always be negative people around regardless of how old you are. Just smile and say thank you and get on about your life. KT