When I was 22 years old, I found myself with a lack of education, a lack of money and a lack of self-worth! I was dating an ex-boyfriend, whom I later married, had four children with, and divorced. He was 25 at the time, and lived in his parents' basement. He had a lack of education, a lack of money and a lack of self-worth! When I look back now, I think to myself, "That was an entire other world ago!"
That was the year that I was introduced to a great book on personal development called Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill, first published in 1937. I remember crying and running over to my dad's house. I told him, "If the children only knew how awesome, smart and amazing they are, they could be protected from making the same horrible mistakes I had already made." I continued to make mistakes throughout my journey for the next several years.
I look at the world today and wonderful the people in it. I wonder why they can't see the beauty of the world like I do. I have thought, since I read Think and Grow Rich, that if everyone knew that they could be more, do more and have more, then they would really work for it, like I did. It seemed like nine times of 10, if not one out of 100, when I would meet someone, they would believe in dreams for other people but could not believe in dreams for themselves.
I became a success coach and inspirational speaker, after studying personal development for 18 years, so I could help the people in the world see their personal greatness. I have had a dream since I read Think and Grow Rich that I would somehow be able to get to the children to be able to teach them in their personal development. I now realize the truth! The truth is children do not need personal development. They need good positive parenting solutions with structure, real love and guidance. Children and teenagers need their parents to take on their role as the parent and to work as hard to raise their children as they work in their businesses!
I made mistakes. I did not have good parenting styles because I did not have great role models as a child, so I did the best I could as a single mother. I worked on teaching them the skills of setting goals, making vision boards, and writing down the essential things they want in their life, but at the same time I was stealing their independence, confidence and self-worth with my parenting styles. I was a dedicated parent. I volunteered at their schools. I made sure that they always had good clothes, and I made sure to personally spend a lot of time with them when they were little. So, where the heck did I go wrong? How did I end up with unhappy children who are ungrateful, unloving and deserving?
Thank goodness I found the answer to my dream and the answer to help the next generation of children and teenagers become happy, successful and grateful. Nothing happens by chance or luck, so I will say it this way, "I attracted Thomas into my life because we were meant to share these positive parenting solutions with you and every other parent around the world!"
The first thing I learned from Thomas is to actually listen to my children, to hear what is important to them. This is their fuel for them to learn the life skills which I have deemed essential to their survival. Now, we work towards the future together, as a strong team.