Confidence -
There are people in my life who drip of confidence. They supremely believe that they are qualified and capable in almost every situation. Over the years, I've gotten to know these kinds of people better and have been amazed at what I learned. They typically aren't any better than anyone else just more confident. Maybe I haven't met the right person to dispel this but it's my experience so far.

It reminds me of a study where school kids from different countries were tested. The Americans thought they did very well, the Japanese thought they did ok. When the test results were calculated the Japanese did significantly better than the American school kids. Is this really what we are teaching our kids??? Do they really need a trophy for 253rd place?

If one of my children do well, I brag about them and praise them. If they don't do well, I try to encourage them to try harder or practice more or give them advice. I certainly don't lie to them and say..."great job". Don't know about you, but my kids are way too smart to believe that kind of lie.

Recently my son, Griffin, graduated preschool. Yes, you heard me correctly...graduated preschool. I guess, the intense rigours of preschool demand a ceremony celebrating. You didn't beat any girls with blocks or run over the teacher's foot with your tricycle so you can graduate. Am I the only person who thinks it's crazy to graduate from preschool????

This false confidence thing that we breed in our children is wrong. When they go out into the real world and when they have a real boss, things will be tougher for them.