Children Learn What They Live was a poem on child-rearing written by Dorothy Law Nolte for the weekly family column for the Torrance Herald in 1954. I think all of us have an important role to play in the upbringing of children; it doesn’t has to be our own children, it can be any children who come into contact with us. What do we want them to learn from us?
Children Learn What They Live
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
Just come across this video in Facebook, shot in Malaysia, about Autism which I would like to share with you. According to Wikipedia, although there is no known cure to autism, there have been reported cases of children who recovered. And as the message in the video, I believe that if we are patient with autistic children, we can discover their strength and the keys to their lives; they too, will Shine and become successful in life. A good reminder to all of us.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”
Just about a week ago, I was discussing with my co-workers turned friends that I just realised – again – that as much as we want to reach out and help everyone, we simply could not reach out and help all. Most people would have the idea that I am talking about people who are not willing to be helped. I agree to a certain extent. However, over here, I am referring to someone who we wanted to reach out and to help and we just do not have the expertise or ability yet.
How did I come to realise it? It was all a magical journey if we would so much as to listen to our inner voice and the Universe.
Just a few weeks ago I was in contact with a potential new student to coach. During the evaluation session with the boy and his parent, I realised the boy may be dyslexic; I came to the conclusion from what the parent described to me and from my personal observation. Although I am not an expert in dyslexia, I was able to read about it from books and from people’s personal dyslexic experience before. Besides that, I had a chance to discuss about it with a parent who has two dyslexic children. And because of her own children, she has started a freelance service to help other dyslexic children.
I also stressed that dyslexia has nothing to do intelligent; it is just a form of learning disability and if we are able to find the key to open up the learning in each of the child, he/she will have great potential. Apparently, they have come across that and they just thought their boy is a little slow in his learning. I wanted to link them up to the parent who are doing freelance service to help other dyslexic children but they weren’t receptive about it.
In the end I took up the challenge to give it a go. My co-worker and I went through one session with the boy and came out totally clueless what we could do to help; it was simply not within our ability and expertise. True to my personal observation, he is a very smart boy. Besides that, he can be very focus. I felt that it would not be right for us to coach him; what he really needs is someone with the expertise to find the right key to help him to learn.
My sincere apology to the parent who was willing to give us a shot. Fortunately, they were very understanding.
Through that one incident, it just dawned upon me that as much as we want to reach out to everyone and to help everyone, there will be time when we have to admit that we do not have the ability yet. However, as Helen Keller said, “… because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” We must continue to do what we can to reach out to people who we have the ability to help. With that say, there will also be time when we have to take up new challenge to stretch our abilities.
Pardon me that this post came much later; it was easy to be caught up in the news, watching what was happening in Japan and finding out if friends and their families were safe after the quake. Fortunately, I was able to contact my friends and unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for others who are still doing their best to contact their friends and families. My heart goes out to all of you.
As I reflected in the quietness of my room, many images flashed through my minds; images of babies, smiling children, elderlies and faces … faces whom I do not know and yet they seem to be just like the faces of my friends.
It dawned upon me that these images of babies, they could have been the images of our babies. These images of smiling children could have been my smiling niece and nephews, giggling as they tried to climb up to the lap of their uncle. These images of elderlies could have been our grandparents and parents. Last but not least, these images of familiar faces could have been our best friends, friends and working associates. It could simply be the images of people whom we hold dearly and closely in our heart … it could be images of you and I.
In that moment of quiet reflection, I realised there is no Singaporean, American, British, Indian, Chinese or Japanese etc; there is only human being of one united race on Planet Earth.
Symphony of Love is making a special request from you to continue to send prayer and positive wishes of Loving Kindness and compassionate to our friends in Japan and for those of you who are able to help out financially, below are some ways:
1. Singaporeans may make a cash, cheque or SMS donation to the Singapore Red Cross for victims of this disaster.
For walk-in donations, the Singapore Red Cross is open from 9.30am to 9pm from Mondays to Fridays, and from 9.30am to 6pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
For cheque donations, cheques should be made payable to the “Singapore Red Cross Society”.
Donors may also donate via their mobile phones to 75772. For every SMS, S$50 will be donated to the “Japan Disaster” fund.
Let us continue to send positive wishes of Loving Kindness and Compassion to our Japanese friends. As the saying goes, “Strangers are friends we have yet to meet.“
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