let alone do well in them. Socially he was immature, often embarrassing those closest to him. Athletically, he was small, skinny and uncoordinated---swinging his baseball bat, for example, almost before the ball was even pitched. Others would laugh at him.
Sandra and I were consumed with a desire to help him. We felt that if ‘success’ were important in any area of life, it was supremely important in our role as parents. So we worked on our attitudes and behavior toward him and we tried to work on his. We attempted to psyche him up using positive mental attitude techniques. ‘Come on, son! You can do it! We know you can. Now just put your hands a little higher on the bat. Keep your eye on the ball. And then don’t swing until it gets close to you.’ Then when he did a little better, we would go to great lengths to reinforce him. ‘That’s great, son, keep it up.’
When others laughed, we reprimanded them. ‘Leave him alone.’
