Parents Would You Rather Raise a Happy Failure or an Unhappy Success
By: Dr Gary S Goodman

I know a teenager whose parents plucked him out of a school where we was incessantly cutting classes and earning bad grades.

They moved to a nicer neighborhood with better schools and enrolled him there.

He?s not cutting nearly as many classes, he likes his schoolmates, but he?s still barely scraping by when it comes to grades.

He went from being an unhappy failure to a happy one.

I kid you not: He has much stronger self-esteem in his new digs, but his scholastic performance has barely improved.

His parents don?t quite know how to feel right now. Should they celebrate or continue to wring their hands and worry about his future?

Let?s take our story to Iowa, where I know another couple.

They, also, have a boy the same age that is having trouble in school. But they?re worried sick that he might become yet another teen suicide.

Apparently, their little hamlet and the environs have been blighted with the curse of kids doing themselves in; even some who were getting perfectly wonderful grades until their time of departure.

You might think of some of the latter as tragically unhappy successes.

With self-imposed, peer, societal, and parental pressures all stacking up on them, these types of teens simply can?t find any emotional daylight.

Maybe wise parents look at these stresses and decide to help to remove them, or at least as many as possible. Sure, their kids might not get the best grades, but they could be late bloomers, for all they know.

That?s a lot better than dying on the vine.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 900 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard"--the foremost expert in sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman - EzineArticles Expert Author

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