Finding Eddie’s Dimples
Fast forward to the present, and Eddie and I were working together the other day, and I remembered this old post and decided to repost it with some updates. I’m going to share the first post in the hope of providing a historical background for today’s updated version of Finding Eddie’s Dimples. So here goes!
If I were to develop this theme into a story it would be about my grandson trying to get some dimples to improve his smile so he could attract girls. In my story I would have him daydream about all the girls who would notice his dimples and immediately start chasing him.
Ever since he was little, I knew he was a creative person and so I figured that he would use his creativity to find possible solutions to his dilemma of not having dimples. I imagined him trying such things as hiring a tattoo artist to put phony but permanent dimples on his cheeks or I would have him experiment with a special glue that would keep him smiling day and night with his dimples constantly plastered on his face or I might have him hire a plastic surgeon to use his magic. Each of these scenarios would be filled with adventure, fun, and creative mayhem.
The story would end with Eddie realizing that he failed because his motive was superficial. He would come to understand that enhancement of his handsomeness was not what attracted girls. He would learn a valuable lesson as he realized that the girls he wanted to chase would accept him without dimples. Eddie’s story would be about reaching success through failure.
Ed Catmull, president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation Studios, recently said “Trying and failing is also a key to success and creativity, but many are scared to fail 1.”
Today Eddie is in his early 20’s, a college student, an author, still creative, and still without a set of dimples. He is currently dating and it will be interesting to test his original theory of the value of dimples. I suppose that he will find out that it’s not superficial things like dimples that attract girls but rather it’s the character of the young man and Eddie has that character.
The message of this post is simple. Parents should help their children become more resilient by encouraging creative risk taking, by helping them step out of their comfort zone and try new things. We should help them understand that sometimes the best learning comes after we fail IF we don’t let failure stop us. The key is to keep trying and NEVER, NEVER, give up. Let’s teach our children about the courage to fail. Eddie is a great example of this principle.
1 Deseret News, February 3, 2015.
PS Want to help your kids have less stress and more success at home and school? CLICK HERE to get a copy of our book, The Resiliency Toolkit: A Busy Parent’s Guide to Raising Happy, Confident, Successful Children.
Share This Article:[sgmb id=1]
