Encouraging people to change is an exercise in shared hope. Most of us, no matter how cynical we may be about improvement in our own lives, wish for something better for our children. Often I invoke this desire to get people to try new things. The leverage here is the common belief that children learn the majority of what they know about life from observing their parents. I regularly use this idea to try to persuade people to try to set examples of kindness, tolerance, and conflict resolution on their children’s behalf.
