My kids don't want to hear about my successes, but they absolutely love hearing about my failures

The author (not pictured) tells her sons about her failures. Maskot/Getty Images/Maskot I used to tell my kids my success stories to try to motivate them. I realized it wasn't helping — they were comparing themselves to me. When I started telling them about my failures, they saw that one bad outcome isn't the end. For a long time, I thought I was doing what parents are supposed to do. Whenever one of my sons was struggling with school or feeling discouraged about not mastering a new skill, ...