The first time we ever asked for water, did we say “Could you please pour me a glass of water, I'm rather thirsty?"

No. First we said, “Wahha!”

And we were praised and praised for that. Mom and dad jumped up and down--called grandma and grandpa and all that good stuff.

Then, because our parents didn't want us ordering “wahha” when we were adults, what was “praised” was altered until it became closer to the desired result.

Did we get up smoothly the first time we tried to walk, then cruise around, maybe even throwing in a little moon walk? Not most of us! Same rules apply: Cheering and cheering on that first crawl then the first tentative step…until, soon enough, we could do the amazing: walk!

Imagine if we scolded a baby as they fell the first couple of times. What would happen? NO ONE WOULD EVER LEARN TO WALK!!

So, why in the world would we not praise the “baby steps” we take as we learn something new?

Wahha!!!

When I was taking my baby steps in learning to write in English class my teachers graded my papers severely as though much depended upon my accuracy and correct grammar. So eventually what I learned instead of better English was the trick to write extremely simple uncreative sentences so I wasn’t marked off for my effort. And to my mistake I was pleased having joined the crowd of uncourageous, uncreative masses satisfied by not making waves. Nurturing. That would have been the thing. I could have saved many years of hard knocks and learned to write from the start instead of going back and relearning what good writing is about years later.