IF you could do a Word Cloud of your childhood...what would show up LARGE?

[JDPriestly]

133. My mother studied child development in college and lived with a professor

of child development as a nanny during those years.

I remember the strange but wonderful advice she gave me as I began at a very early age my babysitting career (just one of my many jobs. I'm flexible). She said to me: "There's positive reinforcement and there's negative reinforcement, and positive reinforcement works best."

I was a difficult child because I was born with a hearing loss (not too serious and gone thanks to an operation when I was about 9) and nearly legally blind, not quite. I was always bumping into things and causing trouble until I finally got my glasses in the second grade. So, my parents had to be very patient.

We never had any money, but there were four of us children, all girls, best friends in the world. I love my family. They are the best. I was really lucky to be born into such a family.

By the way, my father was a minister, the good kind that really took Christian teachings about life to heart and helped other people. My parents were the best.