Once a father and son, on a weekend at countryside, were on their favorite pastime - ‘kite flying’. A photographer who passed by, paused to take a few snaps of the child and the kite. The father befriended him in a jiffy and invited him to join them. After a short while, the child’s kite came down and got stuck on the thorny shrubs spread over the area. It was too tall for him, yet he started doing small efforts to retrieve his kite.
The photographer asked him, “May I help you?” and the child readily agreed – “Sure”. Both of them plugged away together for sometime till the father called the photographer’s attention back to something.
Away from the child, the father said, “I know its difficult for him to reclaim that kite. Yet I donot want to help him now. Let him figure out a way to sort it out. If he is convinced that he cant, he should know whom to ask and how to ask, for help”.
Seemingly a very simple sport – the kite flying – is thus one of the biggest lessons in disguise in that child’s life.
Often we tend to give answers to our kids; sometimes even before they ask. It’s a pride for many parents to be quick to spot a question and confusion in their ward even before they express it. On the other hand, what exactly are we doing to them? Arent we snatching away a platform, which may otherwise boost their analytical or problem solving skills? Arent we hindering their lessons in expressing themselves constructively?
Lets give them questions and wait till they learn to solve it either by themselves or by exploring.
