"ATTITUDE"  by Chuck Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude is more important than the facts. 

It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.

The remarkable thing is,

we have a choice everyday

regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past ... we cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have,

and that is our attitude.

                                            We are in charge of our attitudes. -- Chuck Swindoll

"A teen who 'cops an attitude' is very often attempting to keep others distanced from him by making himself difficult to approach. If we enable our teens to manipulate us with grouchiness, the 'silent treatment', or with overbearing commentary that slants activity more to his liking, we are creating an interaction pattern that is difficult to re-mold. When a child first begins to assert an undesired attitude, we need to stop where we are at, call the play for what it is and require that the attitude be positively adjusted.The child must learn that attitudes are like clothing -- they adorn our persons and are changeable if there is not a good match."

"Some teens display attitudes which suggest reluctance or cockiness out of a lack ofunderstanding about a given situation. As parents it is our obligation to teach them not to allow negative circumstances or outlooks to govern the choices we make and actions we take. A great part of our parenting job is that of setting expectations and standards and encouraging our children to exceed the expected with even greater accomplishment than first considered. One is not born with confidence. A child does not come to being ready to seize opportunities. Those in the immediate environment --  by means of direct commentary, implicit suggestion, example and the provision of opportunities -- instill the child with attitudes that cause one to play, win and continually succeed in the face of adversity."

"For one to say: 'Well that's just how I am -- accept it,' is to say that personality traits and character attributes are set in stone. Typically the person making this type of statement is well aware that she has chosen to hold on to negative posturing. She issues the statement to defend her stubbornness. If we find ourselves often making such statements, or find that others are regularly put off by a certain way we react to or approach a task, a topic, an issue, or a person, indications are that we need to make an "attitude adjustment."   -- Rob Gallardo