![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/scan0029_2-1024x740.jpg\" "\\"Chef")
<\/a><\/p>\nChildren dream about becoming movie stars<\/a>, musicians, professional athletes<\/a>, prima ballerinas<\/a> and presidents.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you but the last time I looked at a group of grown-ups, I saw a lot more accountants than astronauts\u2026. more mechanics than movie stars.\u00a0 What becomes of childhood dreams?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve heard a lot of highly successful people say that one of the first steps they had to take to fulfill their dreams was to stop talking to their family and friends about them.\u00a0 It seems that in our efforts to protect those we love the most we often stomp on the rocket fuel<\/a> of their imaginations.\u00a0 Our intentions are usually good:\u00a0 we want them to be safe and secure, we don\u2019t want them to get \u201cbeat up\u201d by life or repeat our mistakes.<\/p>\n So what happens?\u00a0 They stop dreaming, stop trying, or stop telling us.<\/p>\n [Tweet “They stop dreaming, stop trying, or stop telling us.”]<\/p>\n Can you blame them?\u00a0 Think about a time that you were excited about an idea, you told a friend and they immediately starting poking holes in it.\u00a0 Even if your friend was trying to help, the conversation did not make you feel good or increase your confidence, did it?<\/p>\n So how do we make sure that our kids will be prepared to earn a living without stepping on their big dreams?\u00a0 How about dreaming with them?\u00a0 You can:<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that encourage imagination.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think it\u2019s like to live in the White House<\/a>?”<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that reinforce ideas.\u00a0 \u201cHow many hours do you think the President<\/a> works every day?\u201d or \u201cWhat kind of student do you think he was when he was in the ___th grade?\u201d<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that help them make plans.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think you might need to do to get ready to be the President?\u00a0 How do you think we can practice now?\u201d<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that help them broaden their thinking.\u00a0 \u201cIt seems like the part of being President that you like the best is the ______.\u00a0 Did you know that companies also have presidents?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Talking about dreams and how to achieve them goes far beyond the dreaded \u201cWhat do you want to be when you grow up\u201d question.\u00a0 Instead, it\u2019s another way to enhance communication between you and your child and to strengthen the connection between you.\u00a0 And that might just be a dream come true.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Children dream about becoming movie stars, musicians, professional athletes, prima ballerinas and presidents.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you but the last time I looked at a group of grown-ups, I saw a lot more accountants than astronauts\u2026. more mechanics than movie stars.\u00a0 What becomes of childhood dreams? I\u2019ve heard a lot of highly successful people say that one of the first steps they had to take to fulfill their dreams was to stop talking to their family and friends about them.\u00a0 It seems that in our efforts to protect those we love the most we often stomp on the rocket fuel of their imaginations.\u00a0 Our intentions are usually good:\u00a0 we want them to be safe and secure, we don\u2019t want them to get \u201cbeat up\u201d by life or repeat our mistakes. So what happens?\u00a0 They stop dreaming, stop trying, or stop telling us. [Tweet “They stop dreaming, stop trying, or stop telling us.”] Can you blame them?\u00a0 Think about a time that you were excited about an idea, you told a friend and they immediately starting poking holes in it.\u00a0 Even if your friend was trying to help, the conversation did not make you feel good or increase your confidence, did it? So how do we make sure that our kids will be prepared to earn a living without stepping on their big dreams?\u00a0 How about dreaming with them?\u00a0 You can: 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that encourage imagination.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think it\u2019s like to live in the White House?” 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that reinforce ideas.\u00a0 \u201cHow many hours do you think the President works every day?\u201d or \u201cWhat kind of student do you think he was when he was in the ___th grade?\u201d 3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that help them make plans.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think you might need to do to get ready to be the President?\u00a0 How do you think we can practice now?\u201d 4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ask questions that help them broaden their thinking.\u00a0 \u201cIt seems like the part of being President that you like the best is the ______.\u00a0 Did you know that companies also have presidents?\u201d \u00a0Talking about dreams and how to achieve them goes far beyond the dreaded \u201cWhat do you want to be when you grow up\u201d question.\u00a0 Instead, it\u2019s another way to enhance communication between you and your child and to strengthen the connection between you.\u00a0 And that might just be a dream come true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5],"tags":[119,124,377,412,435,515],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-four-foundations","category-parenting","tag-dreams","tag-e","tag-parenting","tag-potential","tag-raising-future-adults","tag-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Enhanced](\"http:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/zemified_h.png\")
<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"