17/11/2022
*My Child is not Doing Well...*
I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard parents say this – in the school, at home and on the streets. Sometimes, they say it directly to me. Other times, I overhear them complaining to other parents.
I notice the sincere concern in the eyes of most, but ambition and frustration in that of a few.
Every parent wants their child to be the best, to be at the top of the list. But let me ask: “Whose child do you want to be the last? Whose child should be the worst?”
A man once said: “There must be mad men in every society. But it is not the duty of my family to provide those mad men.”
Words on marble! But again, I ask: “Whose family is it their duty to provide the necessary mad men for the society?”
The truth some parents fail to see is that children are wired differently. Just like winged animals, some children fly high. Others fly low. But what’s important is for each one to fly the best it can.
That your child did not come first in class does not mean he/she is not doing well. That your child fails mathematics does not make him/her a colossal failure. The inability of your child to read and write well does not make him/her a generational disgrace.
Your child is doing well, but you probably can’t see it because you won’t let the child’s light shine.
You want your son to score an A in mathematics, but he makes beautiful drawings. Instead of encouraging and appreciating the gift, you scold him for wasting his time drawing rubbish.
You want your daughter to be able to read an encyclopedia while in basic two. But what she loves is to sing and her voice is soft like summer rain. But you don’t hear it. All you know is your child is not doing well.
What if your child is not a book person but an athlete, artist, a craftsman, electrician, dancer or fashionista? Do you have to kill the dream because it doesn’t measure up to your standard?
Every child must not work in an office when they grow up, because children are gifted di