Children to Success

There is a great deal of talk these days about juvenile delinquency and the problems of youth.

I'd like to tell the story about one juvenile delinquent and how he was directed into useful pursuits. I was the juvenile delinquent.

My father was a very religious man. There were two of us boys and I was the older, with a mind of my own that defied all of my father's efforts to "reform" me. Our mother had died years before.

I like firearms and had a couple of pistols hidden in hollow trees on our land in the mountains of southwest Virginia. Because of complaints from the neighbors, my father tracked them down and smashed the weapons with a sledge hammer.

I liked mountain music, and had a banjo that I played in secret. But my father's religious learnings were opposed to this, too. He hunted until he found the banjo and destroyed it.

Dancing was forbidden also. But from time to time I managed to "borrow" a horse after Dad was asleep and attend dances in the village.

As a result of all this my visits to the family woodshed were frequent and terrible. But each appointment in this shire of horrors only made me more determined to violate the rules whenever I could. I was well on the way to becoming a complete rebel against all of the regulations of society.

What saved me was my father's decision to marry again. The step-mother he brought to our mountain cabin was a wonderful, kind and understanding woman.

She bought me a new banjo, and even helped me learn to play it. From a mail order house, she purchased two shiny nickel-plated target pistols – one for herself and the other for me. Then we spent many happy hours together as she taught me to plink at harmless targets instead of at the neighbors' chickens and cows.

Having won my confidence and love by helping me to do the things I wanted to do, she set out to direct my energies to better purposes. She obtained a second hand typewriter and began teaching me how to express ideas on paper. Finally, she helped me get a job as mountain reporter for a "string" of small newspapers. Now I can look back and point to that moment as the most decisive in my life. Is it any wonder that I am grateful to this great lady?

Because of this experience, I'm inclined to take the side of the juvenile delinquents whenever I hear of this problem. Not all delinquency stems from the same causes, of course. But in many cases, I suspect they result from excessively-harsh rules which are too strictly enforced. And I fear, too, that many parents fail to realize that the boundless energy which leads youth into trouble can be easily directed to lead them toward tremendous success. The person who is listless and lazy, lacking the spirit of adventure, is not the one who will achieve great things. Almost all men and women who attain high places in our civilization are "trouble-makers" – free spirits who aren't afraid to defy convention to strike out on new trails, to jar their fellowmen out of their lethargy.

If your child is such a courageous person, be glad.

Help him to learn to channel his forceful character toward success in life. Praise him for his willingness to try anything. Show him how to learn from his mistakes when he takes a wrong course.

Above all, give him your praise rather than your condemnation. For somehow it is human nature for people to live up to the reputation which others give them.

Napoleon Hill