MOTHERHOOD AND APPLE PIE
So there's been sort of a debate going on via the internet/blogosphere concerning parenting, and especially motherhood.  It was inspired by a Wall Street Journal article in which its author praised Chinese "tiger moms" who "screams at her children if they do not get all A's, makes them learn musical instruments even if they have no interest or talent, will not let them go on playdates or sleepovers, and makes them do immense amounts of housework."

Obviously one has to set boundaries for his or her children, and at times you have to be strict.  Maybe at times parents in America have been too lenient and have been focused too much on promoting self-esteem. Still....on this issue, I think I have to agree with this:

"Screaming at children over their grades, especially to the point of the child's tears, is child abuse, pure and simple. It's not funny and it's not good parenting. It is a crushing, scarring, disastrous experience for the child. It isn't the least bit funny. People who do it belong in prison, not lauded as supermoms.
Nor does it work. I never saw a child who could be tortured into doing better work in school. If such children exist, and maybe they do, they are far more to be pitied for the lifelong scars their confused mothers have inflicted than envied.  Interestingly enough, I will add another caveat: I have never seen a wildly successful adult who got there because his mother made him cry over his grades. Men and women succeed because they find a field of endeavor that matches their interests and abilities. It's that simple. They then motivate themselves and achieve."

Can one imagine tiger-mom tactics working on a child who has Moebius Syndrome????  I can't.

BRAIN EXERCISES
Did you know that you can do brain workouts?  For example:

"Attention is necessary in nearly all daily tasks. Good attention enables you to maintain concentration despite noise and distractions and to focus on several activities at once. We can improve our attention by simply changing our routines. Change your route to work or reorganize your desk -- both will force your brain to wake up from habits and pay attention again. As we age, our attention span can decrease, making us more susceptible to distraction and less efficient at multitasking. By combining activities like listening to an audio book with jogging or doing math in your head while you drive forces your brain to work at doing more in the same amount of time."

Read the whole thing...

The secret to success is constancy to purpose." -Benjamin Disraeli