Dr. Susan Bartell, a nationally recognized child psychologist,
offers parents advice on how to instill optimism in their
children. In the last few months, I have been conducting
corporate workshops for employees and managers in different
companies on how to become more optimistic in every aspect of
life. I am amazed by how happy attendees are to finally learn
specific skills to improve the quality of their lives so they
can approach life in a more optimistic manner. You may not know
it, but being an optimist has been associated with many positive
attributes, including better health, greater perseverance and
flexibility, and feeling happier and less depressed. This has me
thinking...why do we have to wait until we reach adulthood to
learn the skills of optimism? As a parent, you can begin
inoculating your child against pessimism right now so he can
develop all these great qualities. I will give you the most
important tools you need to do so. To begin, keep in mind that
optimism is not about being in a good moo