The following is one of my favorite tools in teaching the “Denny Strecker’s Karate” system to the teachers and assistant teachers. It easily translates to parenting skills!

Concerning a Teacher’s (Parent’s) Influence:

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom (home). It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher (parent), I possess a tremendous power to make a (my) child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a (my) child humanized or de-humanized.”