The M-O-M Line
Parenting provides one courage. Understanding that you are modelling behaviour, actions and sentiment for your children, this can provide an incentive for actions that you otherwise would not have. I have intense vertigo and loathe small heights and it's usually not worth the dizziness and hyperventilation to climb up. However, understanding that encouraging my boys to face their fears and make it to the top or to jump from a high platform onto a sponge pit, for instance, lacked any resonance if my actions modelled quitting, I've jumped off platforms and climbed up walls, I would not have otherwise. Recently, I was determined to overcome my vertigo and climb a rock climbing wall (admittedly a short one, but it was high enough for me!) to encourage my boys. So I climbed to the top - and then nearly fainted when I came down, proud of the fact that I had at least modelled the right sentiment for my kids. "Wait, did you actually make it to the top?" my elder son asked.