If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.

Barton’s line elevates “enthusiasm” from a mere temperament to a formative life-tool. Framed as the single best parental “gift,” it suggests that energy, eagerness, and hopeful engagement with work and people can outlast material advantages or even specific skills. The quote implies that enthusiasm is generative: it helps a child persist through setbacks, attract collaborators, and find meaning in effort—qualities that can translate across careers and circumstances. It also reflects a distinctly early–mid 20th-century American self-help and business ethos (with which Barton is often associated), where attitude and initiative are treated as decisive forces in personal success.