As every parent, we too teach our children how to be courteous to us and especially to others. We talked about saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ etc. They have gotten good at them for most part but sometimes we do have to remind them when they forget and they do it very willingly.
That other day I was having breakfast and asked my older one to bring me some water. As she brought it, I had food in my mouth and I couldn’t say thank you to her. Without realizing that daddy has food in his mouth, she promptly asked “What do you say daddy when someone does something nice to you?” – A question all too familiar to her when she forgets to say ‘thank you’.
Pointing my finger to her to wait for a second and after I swallowed my food I told her thank you and then said ‘sorry’ for not saying thank you immediately but explained my difficulty. She understood and said, “It’s ok daddy”.
Point here is this: We as parents must be willing to be subjected to the same scrutiny, as we like to hold our children to. Children practice what they observe at home. If they observe you as a non-practicing preacher, they learn that it is ok for them to be the same as their parents are. This also includes saying ‘sorry’. More often it is difficult for older folks to say sorry to the younger one’s simply because they are older in age. But that is precisely is the point that our children should learn that it is not that difficult to say sorry when we are wrong. For older people it takes strength to say sorry to help our kids to practice the same trait.
Do you have a parenting tip to share? Write to indiahopehouse@gmail.com
Ruby
1 comment:
very well written ruby.n so very true.
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