capabilities that the country needed for leadership at his time.
Abraham Lincoln realized that it was faith in his self that drove him through the drive for political achievement. He understood that for anyone to achieve, he must first believe he can. In his letter, he wanted his son to know he can have faith in himself to achieve great things even if others do not believe in him. Even if others do not see anything good in his ideas or thoughts, provided he believes in himself, he can outdo all expectation.
Everyone can do more than anticipated if they believe. It is faith that drives you to fight against the odds. Children often have many odds to challenge. They begin life with competition having to challenge their classmates and live up to the expectation of their parents. The huge responsibility though falls on parents. Parents have to have confidence in their wards which will propel the self believe in their wards. They need to instill in their wards the fact that they can and they should believe they could. It is unfortunate sometimes, that parents kill faith in their wards. They call their wards names such as blocked head, lazy dude, etc. they make their wards feel bad and lose morale even more than the child can do. Rather than use such sway words, parents have to build their words by using encouraging words like “come on you can,” “you are the best son.”
Abraham Lincoln had faith in his son. Off course, he would not have written such great letter. It was the faith he wanted the teacher to transfer into his son so that in his absence, the believe process would continue. When a parent believes in his child, and puts faith in him, the child lives on that faith and goes on to impress even in the absence of the parents. He carries behind him the fact that his parents have faith in him and this drives him towards the achievement of great goal and attainments.
Abraham Lincoln was showing teachers the way. Teachers have to help children believe they can. They have to understand that children do not all have the same developmental pace. Some grow faster while others are slower. A teacher’s responsibility is to ensure he believes regardless of how bad the student is doing. You have to put faith in that child and tell him, “see don, you can do it. You are the best and can challenge all the guys in this class.” Let the child know that no student is better than he is. Let him know that those other persons are doing better because they believe in themselves to challenge the class, that if he can rise up to challenge, he can get to the top of the class.
Children need to know nothing is impossible. They need to know that once they choose to believe in themselves and their capability they can and will become the best. They do not have to believe what others say about them even if they think they are right. Those persons are only right because they accept their word about them.
Children should learn to shake up themselves, believe in their capabilities, and drive their way to the top. The very fact that their fellow peers seem to do better in some areas does not mean they are all good. They need to know that people use their strength to their advantage. They should find their strength and use it to their advantage. Parents and teachers should help their wards develop their gifts and talents and strengthen their advantage over their peers.
Parents have to acknowledge that though their ward may not be strong in one area, they do have strengths in other areas where they can be developed in. parents have to watch their wards and know where their strength lies and help them develop them.
All great achievements came through because the people had self-belief. They believed they could and though they faced challenges, they rose to the challenge because they believed. It is time to believe. Believe in yourself.