Love, Show It the Right Way

I was reading an article which was attached to Justin's weekly progress report this afternoon. An interesting one entitled "爱要用对方法" that describes how you should bring up your child.

I shall attempt to do some translation from the Traditional Chinese to English. [Yes, after weeks of "torture" trying to figure out how to read Traditional Chinese Characters, I have gotten used to the numerous 笔画 (Chinese Character Strokes)]

(1) Let the Child Learn to be Independent

Parents nowadays love and have high aspirations of their child, so they give the child nothing but the best. However, parents tend to forget something important – children learn through their everyday lives. Whether it’s their school homework or daily life, they need to learn how to take their own responsibilities instead of letting parents worry about them.

For example, if their homework is not finished, parents should not push but remind them. If they forget to bring their book to school, parents should remind them to be more careful next time, and not be their savior by bringing the book to their school.

(2) Reading Starts from Home, Action Speaks Louder than Words

You often hear parents telling the child, “Go and read your books”. But how often do you see parents themselves sitting down quietly to read books? Set a good example and your child will follow.


(3) Love them by Spending Time with them

Saying words like “I love you” is not enough to show a child you love him. Amidst the hustle and bustle of life, take some time off from work for your child. Go to the park, watch a movie, play board games. Time with them is more precious than buying presents to make up for hours away from them. Remember, they need your presence, not presents.


(4) Learn to Let Go – Allow your Child to Soar

Experience is the Child’s best learning process. Unfortunately, most Parents tend to be afraid that the Child will be hurt in the process. So they try means and ways to protect the Child from harm. For a Child to be strong, he needs to have experienced failure.

Of course, the Parent must assess the Child’s age and capabilities to gauge how much to ‘let go’. Giving proper encouragement and guidance is a better option than, say, doing homework for the Child.