Here's some truth about failure... We've all failed... it's a fact of life that attempting to do something you've not done before will likely result in some failure, but persistence and not giving into failure will likely result in success... Have you ever watched a baby who is learning to walk.? He or she wants to have that mobility so much that falling down will only temporarilly set most of them back for a very short time...Same goes for communication... same for just about everything else in a child's development. The problem is that when we grow up...We allow embarrasment, presure from peers, and genuine hurt to disolve our level of determination. Myspace is an excellent example of what most people want to be about" Looking and Sounding and Being Percieved As Cool or Neat or Accomplished." When we feel less than confident in our own abilities, our society's moved away from working harder to fix the situation and toward blaming someone else for our own failures. Even more devastating is the reality that ultimately when we fail, most of the time we know why, but do everything in our power to feel good about ourselves and thus deny our own weaknesses. And we wonder why society is so jaded? lol Failure is a good thing... well at least it's a good thing when we take a deep and real look at what caused it, adjust our tactics, seek some knowlege or wisdom, and then take action based upon an update in strategy. Allow your children to fail... don't try to make it all better with a treat and trying to get their minds somewhere else. Talk to them about what went wrong and incourage them to try again with a new strategy. Let them know you love them, but you also want to see them accomplish great things and so while celebrating the victories is essential, acknowleging failure and dealing with it will equip them with over the top skills missing in too many people. Does the above paragraph make sense? Then apply it to yourself and see where it will take you. Take credit for blowing it, because the truth is we all blow it. Know that failure to take responsibility through denial only insures we will fail again and again and again. Pretty basic stuff right? It is very basic stuff, but unfortunately too often we are looking for some "secret" plan and process that will get us there instead of investigating, setting a goal, creating a strategy, and working very hard and very smart to change our lives, our situations, and our world. -Soulwild