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Think Like Your Kids - And Understand Them More!
Seven-year old Michael was on a school trip to a WildlifeCentre 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 andchocolate animals that beckoned to him. He chose one and wasabout 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 tookthe candy bar from him and replaced it on the shelf. She walked to another display and selected a small figuremade from cheap plastic. "Why not take this for her? You'vegot just enough money left." Years have now passed. Michael is all grown up and has left home, but thefigurine stillhas pride of place in his mum's display cabinet. Michael still recalls the day he learned an importantlesson:"The figure was made of cheap plastic, but my Mum couldn'thave treasured it more had it been made of silver, gold or even platinum." Sometimes we as parents and adults lose our sense ofperspective, don't we? What may seem trivial andunimportant 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 herappreciation 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 weretold. The speaker threw a small woollen ball onto the rug.It was exactly the same colour and was made from the samematerial - so it blended in and seemed to disappear. 'Now find it,' was the instruction. Everyone peered andpeered 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 thesurface of the mat. Call it 'thinking outside the box' or whatever - but veryoften problems can be solved by looking at them from anotherperspective or dimension. When we learn to think like our children, when we 'getdown 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! Why do some parents and children succeed, while othersfail?Frank McGinty is an internationally published author andteacher. If you want to develop your parentingskills and encourage your kids to be all they can be, visit his web pages, http://www.frank-mcginty.com/peace-formula.htmlAND http://www.frank-mcginty.com/for-parents.html
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