speak destiny

my first principal, jack, is one of my heroes. i learned so much about teaching - and about children - from him. one of the things he taught me was to "speak destiny" to your children.

i was on a date with my handsome husband tonight at - you guessed it - half price books. and i started reading a book basically about empowering yourself as a mother. a lot of it was pretty cheesy, and a lot of it was common sense. but one of the things the author emphasized was how important the words you speak, internally and externally, are. the things we say to others and to ourselves shape our- and their - reality.

and i thought about jack and speaking destiny.

you see, the idea is, you talk to your children about how you want them to be as though they are already that way.
for example:
"kara, you play so nicely with your brother. i'm so glad you're such good friends."
and your words, your beliefs, will encourage this to be true in fact - even if kara just spent the last 10 minutes pounding on her brother's head.

you also speak destiny when you talk about the future as though you know it already:
"i know you'll make good choices in your friendships. i know that you'll find great people who share your values, and will encourage you to make the right choices."

this may sound a little far-fatched, but i've seen it work. words are powerful things. for the next few days i'm going to try to remember to speak destiny to my children - to use my words in a positive way to shape their beliefs... their lives.... their futures.