What is "wishful thinking"? - Meaning + examples!

Our question of the day is from a student who asked what the expression wishful thinking means. Wishful thinking is when there's something you hope or want to happen, but the reality is that it probably won't. It's actually very unlikely. Let me give you a couple examples. Someone who doesn't have kids saying, when I have children, I'll teach and train them so well they'll never misbehave in public. Wishful thinking because in reality, pretty much all kids will cry or disobey in public sometimes. Or someone who's just starting to exercise, setting a goal of losing 20 pounds, that's about 10 kilograms, in their first month at the gym. It's wishful thinking because in reality, it doesn't happen that fast. Or someone who has bought lottery tickets every week for the past 10 years thinking, I've been doing this so long, I'm sure to win the lottery soon. Sorry, wishful thinking. Winning the lottery is very unlikely, even if you've been trying for a long time. Okay, so wishful thinking is too optimistic, and it's not realistic. You're thinking about something that's very nice to imagine, but it's not actually practical or likely. Thanks for the question. Click on the link under this video to download lots more Ask the Teacher lessons.