Paul Tough famous quotes

The part of the brain most affected by early stress is the prefrontal cortex, which is critical in self-regulatory activities of all kinds, both emotional and cognitive. As a result, children who grow up in stressful environments generally find it harder to concentrate, harder to sit still, harder to rebound from disappointments, and harder to follow directions. And that has a direct effect on their performance in school.
-- Paul Tough

#Children #Growing Up #Disappointment

And in most highly academic environments in the United States, no one fails anything.
-- Paul Tough

#United States #Environment #Failing

People high in conscientiousness get better grades in high school and college; they commit fewer crimes; and they stay married longer.
-- Paul Tough

#School #College #People

Optimists, by contrast, look for specific, limited, short-term explanations for bad events, and as a result, in the face of a setback, they’re more likely to pick themselves up and try again.
-- Paul Tough

#Trying #Faces #Events

What matters most in a child’s development, they say, is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years. What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence. Economists refer to these as noncognitive skills, psychologists call them personality traits, and the rest of us sometimes think of them as character.
-- Paul Tough

#Children #Character #Self Confidence

What if the Secret to Success is Failure?,
-- Paul Tough

#What If #Secret #Secret To Success

What matters most in a child’s development, they say, is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years. What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence. Economists refer to these as noncognitive skills, psychologists call them personality traits, and the rest of us sometimes think of them as character.
-- Paul Tough

#Children #Character #Self Confidence

If we don't give kids the opportunity to fail when they're growing up, and to fail productively, to fail creatively, that they're going to get out there into the world and they're going to hit some kind of setback, like everybody does, and they're going to get completely derailed.
-- Paul Tough

#Growing Up #Kids #Opportunity

If kids've been overprotected from failure in childhood, they get out into the world and they really get thrown off.
-- Paul Tough

#Kids #Childhood #World

There is not a command God gives to His children for which He does not provide the enablement for obedience.

I think that the young people today feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to their brothers and sisters because of the sacrifices that most families make to send their children to college.

Happy bridegroom, Hesper brings All desired and timely things. All whom morning sends to roam, Hesper loves to lead them home. Home return who him behold, Child to mother, sheep to fold, Bird to nest from wandering wide: Happy bridegroom, seek your bride.

When we look at a child, we see that sense of fullness, of intrinsic aliveness, of joy in being, is not the result of something else. There is value in just being oneself, it is not because of something one does or doesn't do. It is there in the beginning, when we are children, but slowly it gets lost.

Behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation. Does it pass by you? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you. Do this with regard to children, to a spouse, to public post, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy guest at the feast of life.

Growing up on a farm was the best. I remember loving that expanse of space. The sky at night was so clear, I could see every star.

Twenty years ago I wanted to move to a nice place so our Charley would grow up a nice boy and learn a profession. But instead we live in a jungle, so he can only be a wild animal. D'you think I picked the East Side like Columbus picked America?

No matter your position or place in life, it is imperative to create opportunities for children so that we can grow up to blow you away.

Young people are often asked, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' and given advice about how to lead meaningful adult lives, but where's the encouragement to lead meaningful lives right now?

The wise expect nothing, hope for nothing, thus avoiding all disappointment and anxiety.