R. M. Moore

The key to this, from my experience, is not setting the child's goals for them. This means teaching the child to set goals for themselves. All parents should set some goals and expectations on the child. That's part of parenting, a necessary part. However, many neglect to teach, or allow, the child to set their own goals, to have their own dreams. Just as damaging though, as not setting any goals for the child, is setting goals a child can't reach.

One way I look at things is that every deed you do is like throwing a pebble in a pond. The consequences of that deed are the ripples that flow across the water from the impact of the pebble. All things moved and changed by the motions of the water are because of that pebble hitting the water. All deeds, good or bad, create those ripples.

Courage was chosen as one of the cowgirl rules, because courage is needed to be able to follow all the other rules. Courage makes all the other human virtues possible. Kindness, generosity, honor, daring; all of these become easier to do steadily if you first have courage. And are practically impossible without it.

I've learned that nobody is going to accomplish your dreams for you. That is perhaps the hardest lesson I try to pass along to the kids with my stories. One day, when all the kids get together and compare notes, I wonder they'll find out it was always the same plot, just different stories. For Stormy, it was a rock band, for Zach, it was pirates. For Eric it was ninjas, for Richard, soldiers. For Leslie, it was fairies. And so for Jenna, it turns out to be cowgirls. Okay, I can deal with that, a

"Pride Goes Before A Fall". How many times have you heard it? How many times have you said it? We teach the kids that pride is a bad thing, and then wonder why they have no self-esteem. I think the problem is that people confuse pride with vanity. This was the subject of our weekly Dear Miss Jenna column, and I think the way a cowgirl sees it is worth sharing.