The other day a well known child psychologist was talking about how to raise successful children.  There were a number of does and don’ts that I wondered about.  Certainly I didn’t have any of the does.  One rule, for example, was: Mother should stay at home and devote her time to the child’s development.

Today Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal for Israel in gymnastics –  it was well-deserved, and proved many suspicions I had to be right.  1.  he is of mixed race, just a little Jewish.  2. He came to Israel at the age of twelve, so he was an outsider. 3, if he was encouraged, it wasn’t by our society at large – because he barely even spoke Hebrew when he was drafted. 4. he had the control over his emotions, even his adrenalin, that could focus on winning, so he probably didn’t do well making friends. 5. His parents were too busy making a living to pay too much attention to him – they couldn’t have paid for his training.

LOVE each one of these points.  They are all indicators to me that character is everything, that mixing genes is the best formula for achievement, and that children can do very well with a little neglect.