Think Like Your Kids - And Understand Them More
Seven-year old Michael was on a school trip to a Wildlife
Centre in Central Scotland. It was near the end of the day and
they were in the Gift Shop before boarding the bus for the
journey home.
Poor Michael! He couldn't resist the array of lollipops and
chocolate animals that beckoned to him. He chose one and was
about to pay for it with his last few pennies.
His teacher, a kindly soul with not long before retirement,
noticed him. "Have you bought something for your Mum yet,
Michael?"
Michael lowered his head in shame! Gently, the teacher took the
candy bar from him and replaced it on the shelf.
She walked to another display and selected a small figure made
from cheap plastic. "Why not take this for her? You've got just
enough money left."
Years have now passed.
Michael is all grown up and has left home, but the figurine
still has pride of place in his mum's display cabinet.
Michael still recalls the day he learned an important lesson:
"The figure was made of cheap plastic, but my Mum couldn't have
treasured it more had it been made of silver, gold or even
platinum."
Sometimes we as parents and adults lose our sense of
perspective, don't we? What may seem trivial and unimportant to
us, can mean so much to a child.
We can learn a useful parenting tip from Michael's mum. The gift
had little or no monetary value, but was given - albeit with a
gentle nudge from the teacher! - with generosity and a certain
amount of personal sacrifice. And by displaying it for years,
Michael's mum showed her appreciation of that.
This reminds me of a conference I once attended.
There was a blue rug on the floor and the participants were
asked to gather round. It was an exercise in perception, we were
told.
The speaker threw a small woollen ball onto the rug. It was
exactly the same colour and was made from the same material - so
it blended in and seemed to disappear.
'Now find it,' was the instruction. Everyone peered and peered
without success, until someone - not me! - got down on his knees
and looked from ground level.
Bingo! There was the profile of the ball, rising above the
surface of the mat.
Call it 'thinking outside the box' or whatever - but very often
problems can be solved by looking at them from another
perspective or dimension.
When we learn to think like our children, when we 'get down to
their level', when we master the art of getting inside their
heads and seeing life from their point of view, the task of
raising children becomes much easier - to say nothing of more
enjoyable and fulfilling.
Happy parenting!