What's your label?

I've been recently reading Doctor William Sears, The good behavior book which mentions the dangers of labeling children, it says "Every child searches for an identity and, when found, clings to it like a trademark." which got me thinking of how we label and perceive ourselves and other people.

All too often I meet new people who instantly give me their label for example vegetarian/vegan and so on. What happens if that label that defines us is the thing that constrains us and could it stop people from looking past the initial label?

I am sure we could all write a list of labels for ourselves, positive and negative. For example, what happens if someone labeled "brainy" fails an exam. Is there a pressure to live up to that label? Even a positive label can have a negative impact and can stop children from fulfilling their full potential and could even prevent a child from trying, just in case they fail.

This is fine but what happens if that label is one given by other people, such as parents or relatives. For example dyslexia or ADHD, from my experience people cling to labels for security even if these labels are not positive. Could the label itself prevent a person from fulfilling their full potential?

I intend to be proactive in preventing any labels being associated with my child especially negative ones, because I believe they can do more damage than good.

So homework for today is to describe yourself and your family and ask where those labels come from and if those labels could become a crutch?