Pondering Perseverance

The definition of perseverance, from a dictionary: “Persisting in or remaining constant to a purpose, idea or task in spite of obstacles.”

Unfortunately, I’ve had to persevere this week through many other “life” commitments that caused my blog to take a back seat. Yet through this week, I’ve been dialoguing daily about the importance of developing perseverance in our children, and have been convicted of this in my own life as well.

Attempting to develop a child’s understanding of perseverance in a society that tells them instant gratification is around every corner is one of the most difficult challenges of a parent. Teens today exemplify quitting as the norm, and parents feel it’s so much easier to just let them have their way. That character issue and entitlement mentality is coming back to assault us as a society.

We’ve struggled with some lack of perseverance on our home front this school year. Not following through with work expectations has been a challenge we’ve needed to attack, so I’ve been pondering perseverance and how best to raise the bar in our home.
My hubby and I strategically focus on this quality, sprinkling daily life lessons about perseverance throughout MANY conversations.
Especially during this time of the year when spring fever has hit, it’s so hard to finish strong…yes, especially for this mom.

So as we outline our plan of attack, I’ll post it if you desire, but for now, I need to dive into this topic on my own personal levels as well.

Here are some of these quotes I’m sharing with our children.

“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.

Florence Nightengale

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence (perseverance ). Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

Calvin Coolidge

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison

Albert Einstein said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

  • “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
  • “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
  • “The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.” – Author Unknown
  • “Be like a postage stamp – stick to one thing until you get there.” – Margaret Carty