Raising a child requires a serious commitment that is characterized by dedication, smart thought pattern, social awareness, financial commitments, ability to learn and apply new-age initiatives in order to groom a child into a global citizen. No one can raise a child of a high moral standard through a liberal approach but through a conservative approach in preserving moral virtues that can ensure qualitative parenting.
The story is told about a young Thomas Edison who came home one day with a paper for his mother. He told her, “My teacher told me to give this paper only to my mother.”
Thomas’ mother read the note and her eyes filled with tears. Thomas asked his mother what the note said and she read aloud, “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.”
That’s exactly what Thomas’ mother did, she homeschooled her child with devotion and dedication. As the story goes, many years later after Thomas Edison’s mother passed on, he was now one of the world’s greatest inventors, he found a folded paper among other family items.
He opened the very same paper that was given to him to give to his mother and read the following message: “Your son is mentally ill. We won’t let him come to school anymore.”
At that moment, Edison realized what his mother had done for him so many years ago. He wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”
In the book of Proverbs, we learn: “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. “Can you imagine what might have happened to Thomas Edison if his mother had read to him the reckless and hurtful words written by his unwise teacher? He might never have invented the light bulb or made his many other contributions to the society.
But for the wisdom and wise words of his mother, she created the context in which her son could grow to his full potential.
Let’s keep this message in our heart and resolve to use our words wisely for the growth of our children. As a parent what do you always say to your children, how far is your encouragement to your children that can have a positive impact on them? You might be a teacher how much impact you have on your student that can propel them into greatness, especially the ones that are not really performing well presently. A word that is not carefully selected might cause physical and emotional damage for those little ones.
It’s important to raise a child that is passionate, intelligent, cordial, sensible, responsible and reliable, grooming a child is as important as their education. Grooming is not about discipline but about how to live a fulfilled and meaningful life. It’s about a lifestyle that distinguishes a child amongst his or her equals, it’s about a positive attribute of your child that characterizes his strength and qualities.
Grooming is in two phases, one is about modelling a child for positive behaviours, growth and appearance which comprises deportment, cleanliness & hygiene, utterance and body language. The second phase is about character development which has to do with comportment, learning skill, leadership skill, decision making and temperament development.
All these attributes of grooming start from home, a child must not be a weakling as a result of his or her emotional arousal. It would need more than a few exercises to turn a seven-stone weakling into a heavyweight boxer. An extreme emotional child is a low self-esteem child, this type of child is very passionate about everything and feel so bad just on little issues. This is a kind of child that cries over little things, they’ll run to you crying saying “he has taken my toy, Mummy, John beat me, he said am stupid” and so on. To help this type of child, you need to give him or her your support but not to fight on his behalf but charge him to confront the situation, if not addressed will become age long problem in his life.
We were encouraged to be strong by my parent when we are younger through a confrontational approach in order to make us better. My mum will chase you back to the war front if you cry home hearing that your mate beat you. She always says it’s either you accept defeat and keep quite than coming home crying that your mate or junior beat you. She made us stronger with the ability to defend ourselves but not be violent. Am not encouraging confrontational approach but a systemic approach to build confidence in those kids and make them responsible to themselves and other not being subjected to humiliation and harassment. A parent must devise an approach that suits his or her children based on his status and the environment, time and money are some of the requirements.
Today some children are very weak because of their health, such a child should not be encouraged to be confrontational. But a child that is weak as a result of butter, candy, chocolate, sandwich and so on should be made stronger and defend him or herself but not to become a street fighter. The encouragement you give your wards will help them in the future also in the area of decision making and in the quest for excellence.
It will help them in the area of social interaction & association, it will also help them grow their business mindset.
A weak-willed child is always a victim of abuse, oppression, bullying, humiliation which make them inferior to others, this affects their judgement about people and give them narrow mind both in decision making and interaction with others, they always think people hate them.
It’s imperative for parents to find time to groom their children to be strong, bold, confident and courageous where they can stand for their rights.
Grooming a strong-willed child is not about encouraging stubbornness or rascals but a child that is proud of his or herself. Grooming a strong-hearted child requires you as a parent to observe his or her behaviours and temperaments, encourage the weakness in them to be strong and stubbornness in them to be tamed into a productive endeavour.
A strong-willed child is a child that is capable of achieving success against all odds, this type of child possesses a passion for success, can dictate his fate and determines how others should relate with him. These type of children are of great minds, Get more details in my new book 21st Century Parenting, Raising a World Class Citizen.
Get the best idea on how to raise a World Class Citizen, making your child outstanding as a global player set for a global assignment.
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