Still remember the post on Children See, Children Do? Through the time I spent with my niece and nephews, I had witnessed countless time how they had always tried to imitate their parents’ actions. My niece would often wear her mother’s shoes and pretend to be shopping or marketing. And ever since she starts school, she has become the ‘teacher’ to her two brothers at home. As for my nephews, they imitated their father by driving their imaginary cars around the house.
More often than not, we found their actions funny and they never failed to bring smiles to us. All these acts have been more amusing than bad so far.
However, just a few day ago, my sister shared with me something which left a deep impression in me; children, they are really watching us. Whether we like it or not, they are not only watching but doing what we are doing too. To some extent, what she has shared with me is quite disturbing.
Allow me to share what happened. My sister has been making unsuccessful attempts to grow money plants in her house. All the money plants didn’t last for long so far. A recent one was still blooming about a month back. But two weeks ago when I was at her place, it seemed that the money plant was reduced to a few leave. Not a beautiful sight at all.
Sometimes I wonder too, why some people seem to be able to make anything they grow bloom and some have no luck at all. My sister’s neighbour seems to have that magical touch; the money plant outside her house is blooming beautifully. So my sister decided to ‘borrow’ or rather cut a part of her neighbour’s money plant to try to grow in her house.
Well … she should have just asked for permission right? She didn’t. And she did it in front of her 5 years old daughter and twin 3 years old son. A BIG mistake! The moment my sister cut out a part of her neighbour’s money plant, her daughter asked, “Mom, why are you stealing Auntie’s money plant?” My sister said, “I’m not stealing. I cannot ask for Auntie’s permission because she is not around.” Brilliant answer? BIGGER mistake! Her daughter said, “It’s stealing if you do not ask for permission.” And yes, she is 5 years old.
A moment of rude awakening. My sister was dumbfounded! Mistake number 1: She should have just asked for permission to cut part of the plant and yes, my niece was right that ‘taking without asking is stealing.’ Mistake number 2: My sister should have admitted that she did the wrong thing and should not have tried to cover up.
This is definitely something which we do not want our children to pick up. Aren’t we supposed to be the one to tell them about life’s lessons? And yet we are re-learning these lessons from them. Their innocence and untainted eyes have taught us the values which we once knew but may have abandoned in the process of growing up.
Children are definitely watching what we are doing. So we must be careful of what we are doing in front of them. Let me put it this way, if we watch what we are doing even when they are not watching us, then very often we do not have to worry what we are doing when they are watching us.
How about you, in what way(s) has your children been copying you? Have they done anything so far that left a particular deep impression in you and have you watching your actions?
Photo by hortongrou
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“No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.” – Barbara de Angelis
This was a quote which I came across yesterday while I was compiling some love quotes by Barbara de Angelis. I knew it instantly that this is one quote which I want to share with you. This quote is in line with the ‘Rewriting Life with Different Choices‘ post, which I did a about two weeks ago.
One of the things which upsets me, is seeing people using their phone (without a hands-free) while they are driving. Now they are even checking their text messages and texting while driving.
Then there are always the inconsiderate few who decide that they prefer to throw trashes on the floor when the bin is less than a feet away.
It really doesn’t make any sense in letting these people upset me. Can we really be in control of our happiness? I believe we can. As the saying goes, “It is not what happened but what we do or how we react to what happened that is most important.” There are people or things in life that are constantly upsetting us … but only if we allow them to.
There is something which I believe we all know; Whenever we let someone or something upset us, we are letting the person or the thing control our happiness. Why should we be allowing others to decide if we should be happy? Since being happy is essential for the well-being of one – be it mentally, physically or spiritually, shouldn’t we be in control of our happiness?
Let us start today to take control of our happiness and to decide to be happy. As Barbara de Angelis said, “… you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.” I believe … do you believe?
Weekend is here again. Time to slow down to breathe and to take time to smell the roses. How is the sky over your side? Is it a snowing or rainy day or is it going to be a sunny day? Over here, it is kind of cloudy and while I am typing here now, it is drizzling outside. A gloomy day? Far from that, it is a blessing enough to be alive and kicking! There is no way I can control the weather and I don’t intend to worry about it either. Since the rain is here, I might as well enjoy a cup of hot chocolate while listening to the sound of the rain and enjoy the goodness of it.
Like what Dolly Parton said, “…if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” Perhaps, I can bring a little rainbow to you through this beautiful medley of “Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World” arranged by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. However, this version is covered by Aselin Debison. I found it soothing and it reflects my feeling for this weekend – “Rainbow” and a “Wonderful World.”
I wish for you a wonderful weekend with all the goodness in your life.
Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dreams that you dream of
once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dream of,
dreams really do come true
Someday I’ll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops,
that’s where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dare to, oh why, oh why can’t I?
Well I see trees of green and red roses too,
I’ll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Well I see skies of blue and clouds of white
and the brightness of day
I like the dark
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands saying,
How do you do?
They’re really saying, I — I love you
I hear babies cry and I watch them grow,
they’ll learn much more than we’ll know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Someday I’ll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops,
that’s where you’ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dreams that you dare to, oh why, oh why can’t I?
A friend shared this touching short film in Facebook. According to a user who posted the same short film in Youtube, it was made in Greek in 2007. With the help of Google, I found it being shown in the 30th Greek Short Film Festival in 2007.
“What is that?” is a short film directed by Constantin Pilavios about a conversation, between a father and his son, when sparrow landed in front of them.
There was an email, with a very similar story, which I received back in 2006. Whichever came first, I do not know. But I hope, through the conversation of the father and his son, we could all be brought back to the time when we were young. Did our parents not shower us with tender love and patience?
This short film reminded me of the many conservations between my inquisitive four years old niece and my mother. Whenever she was watching TV programs with my mother, she would always ask her grandmother what was going on in the show. When my mother answered her question, she would pause to think for a moment and continue to ask another question.
This process of question and answer would just go on and on; the little one never seemed to run out of questions. However, no matter how many questions the little one asked, my mother would always answer in a gentle, patient and loving manner.
I was also reminded of the few conversations one of my aunts had with my grandmother. My grandmother is going to ninety-five soon and she tends to forget about certain things. Like the father in the short film, she would ask the same question repetitively or repeat the same words again and again. But my aunt would always answer her gently and lovingly with a smile.
What similarity can you see between my niece and my grandmother? One is four years old and another at ninety-five years old. Now, if we think about it, my grandmother was once young like my niece and probably with an inquisitive mind. My niece will one day be old like my grandmother and may tend to get forgetful too.
The young will not be with us forever as they move out of the house one day to start their own lives. The best memories are the attention, love and acceptance we can give to them now; these will positively influence them to act the same way toward their children.
The old too will not be with us forever as they will pass on one day. Let them leave with loving thoughts, much as the love and care which they showered upon us when we were young.
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Still remember the post on Children See, Children Do? Through the time I spent with my niece and nephews, I had witnessed countless time how they had always tried to imitate their parents’ actions. My niece would often wear her mother’s shoes and pretend to be shopping or marketing. And ever since she starts school, she has become the ‘teacher’ to her two brothers at home. As for my nephews, they imitated their father by driving their imaginary cars around the house.
