"What's that?!"
"It's good. You'll like it."
"Yuck. No I won't."
"How do you know you won't like it if you haven't tried it?"
"It looks gross."
"Well, it's not, and your mother worked really hard at making a nice dinner for us, so eat it!"
"I can't. I'll throw up!"
"No you won't - and you're not getting up from this table until you've eaten it, young lady, so you'd better get started now!"
And so the lines are drawn, and the battle begins . . .
Sound familiar? I don't know any father who hasn't played out the above scenario in some form or another with his kids, and it can be a very frustrating experience on both sides.
Granted, if our children's biggest struggle is with trying new food at dinner, they're probably not going to be emotionally crippled for life. On the other hand, if they are paralyzed with fear about trying anything new, they could miss out on a great deal of the joy and adventure of living.
So what can we do as fathers to help our children overcome their fears and welcome new experiences in life? We can proactively address four underlying beliefs that hold our kids back, and we can build a set of beliefs into the foundation of their character that will help them embrace the new rather than fear it.
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Keep a civil tongue.