Human Engineering in the Home

The following is a passage from one of our favorite authors, the late Napoleon Hill. Sometimes we forget that, as parents, the image we project onto our children has an impact on the way they view themselves as well. We hope you enjoy.
Once upon a time not too long ago a farmer, living in the mountainous section of one of the Southern states, brought home a new wife to become the stepmother of his two small boys. The wife brought with her two sons of her own, and in due time a fifth son was born of the marriage.
The home was typical of that mountain country, and the farmer was the product of four generations of his people born and reared in poverty and illiteracy.
His wife, however, came from a more prosperous section of the state and had received the benefits of a cultural background and a college education. She was not the type to accept poverty and illiteracy without protest.
The evening on which the farmer brought his new wife to their home he introduced her to relatives and friends who had gathered there for the wedding reception. And finally he introduced her to his eldest son, a lad of nine years, with the following words:
“And now I wish you to meet the fellow who is distinguished for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no later than tomorrow morning.”
The stepmother went over to the young “Jessie James,” placed her hand under his chin, tilted his head upward, looked him squarely in the eyes for a moment, and then turned to her husband and said, “You are wrong. This is not the worst boy in the county, but the smartest who has not yet found the proper outlet for his enthusiasm.”
Then and there began a friendship between that young boy and his new mother which was destined to project its influence for good throughout more than half of the civilized world. That was the first time anyone had ever called the boy smart. His relatives, including his father, as well as all the neighbors, had built him up in his own mind as being a bad boy, and he had not disappointed them. His stepmother, in one brief sentence, changed all that!
Think of this story, fathers and mothers, for you have it within your power to influence your youngsters. You may be inspired to work miracles in the lives of some who need only the right influence to give them a start on the road that leads to happiness.
The stepmother was a small woman, but what she lacked in size she more than made up in ambition and enthusiasm. The week after she came into that poverty-stricken home, she held a master mind meeting with her husband which was destined to force him to part forever with poverty. At the end of the meeting it was announced that he was to enroll in a dental college. The following year, at the age of thirty-eight, he matriculated at the Louisville Dental College in Kentucky, where he remained until he was graduated.
Source – PMA Science of Success. Educational Edition. Napoleon Hill Foundation, 1983. Pgs. 257-259