Jamie Lee Curtis: We take kids’ bravery for granted

>>> back now at 8:21 with golden globes winner jamie lee curtis . she's known in the movie world but lately a star of children's books. "my brave year of high fives." good morning.

>> good morning.

>> i love this book of it's so great. you've not done your first movie, not your first child, not your first boork, why a book on firsts.

>> i recognize how completely -- what's the term when you say you're going to do something but don't do it. hypocritical. you're a hypocritical parent. you ask children to try new things every day yet we don't do anything new. every single day asking a child to face a fear, reach a new boundary, try new food, try no activity. come on, try it, you'll like it. you'll like it. yet we as adults don't. so it's a book about trying new things for new children, being brave. yet as adults i hope the message is we have to practice what we preach.

>> absolutely. you can dream about being a children's author but it worked so well to you.

>> everything that ever happened to me happened by accident. an actor by accident. i met my husband by seeing his picture in a magazine by accident saying i'm going to marry him.

>> if only it were so easy.

>> that's how it happened. it has been in my way. if i get in the way of something it doesn't work out well. i try to be open in the books that come to me in a way that is organic. it's art.

>> true.

>> art is organic and these books are organic to me.

>> you have to be open to it as the book itself, such a great lesson for that.

>> you told me a personal story, i hope you don't mind.

>> no, i said my son had a first yesterday. my 4-year-old had an accident.

>> he fell down, bumped his head. you were talking about bravery.

>> courage.

>> children are brave. we take it for granted that they are brave. they are facing new things every day. your son had a first where he had to face being afraid, having stitches, which is painful, and frightening, the whole energy of an accident. yet he now has done that for the first time. you as a parent have done that for the first time.

>> i think it was worse for me than him?

>> you're a parent. you want life to be sweet and delicious for children. life is filled with challenges. who learned how to ride a bike and didn't fall off the first time and get a scrape or feel that. i think our ego as adults gets in the way. we don't want to look bad. like if i went to a zumba class, i would look foolish, i would like uncoordinated and not know what i'm doing.

>> you're a gazelle.

>> i'm ledden.

>> no you are not. in fact, in good housekeeping magazine you sit down and talk with them about how as adults we let ourselves get in the way. as adults we don't do anything new. trying something new and challenging yourself is what life is all about. why is it we're not trying anything as we get older?

>> because we're afraid of looking foolish. we're afraid we're going to look bad, and it holds us in a prison. yet we want our children to try new things. so for the magazine, they said what's something if you you've never done. i know this seems silly but i have never done a mile. i'm a leaden runner, top heavy. there's a tweet picture of myself when i ran a 5k.

>> the finish line .

>> i trained for it. i worked toward it. i was terrified. i showed up by myself on the day of the race with no one else around me except thousands of other runners, and i faced a fear. could i do it? could i finish? and i was able to complete a task that i was terrified of.

>> you did it. you're such a great example. jamie lee curtis , thanks. the book is "my brave year of firsts."