Love + Acceptance + Cereal = Great Human
The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.
- Dr. Rick Hanson
By default my mind tells me I could be a much better father—and because there’s so much room to grow, that must mean I’m failing right now. I fixate on what I haven’t done or regret what I have, while the good things vanish from my story.
I came inside yesterday and my son and his friend were scarfing down some Cheerios after playing soccer and basketball.
His friend said, “Oh man, when we first moved to Boise and lived in the trailer we used to eat cereal all the time. We’d eat it for breakfast. We had it for lunch. And at night I’d ask my parents what was for dinner and they would say they didn’t know so I would eat cereal for dinner too.”
He’s one of my favorites—kind, polite, grateful, caring, and effortlessly cool!
Every time I served frozen TV dinners or leftovers, I beat myself up, convinced I was failing as a dad. Then I heard this cereal-for-dinner story—and suddenly I felt permission to let go of perfection and remember:
“Love and acceptance are your dinner cereal—simple, but all you need to raise great humans.”
