Remember, We're Raising Children, Not
Flowers!
Stephen Glenn. a famous research scientist who had made several very
important medical breakthroughs, was being interviewed by a newspaper
reporter.
The reporter asked him why he thought he was able to be so much more
creative than the average person. What set him so far apart from
others?
He responded that, in his opinion, it all came from an experience with
his mother that occurred when he was about two years old.
He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator
when he lost his grip on the slippery bottle and it fell, spilling its
contents all over the kitchen floor - a veritable sea of milk!
When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him,
giving him a lecture or punishing him, she said: "Robert, what a great
and wonderful mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge puddle
of milk. Well, the damage has already been done.
Would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few minutes
before we clean it up?"
Indeed, he did.
After a few minutes, his mother said: "You know, Robert, whenever you
ake a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up and restore
everything to its proper order.
So, how would you like to do that?
We could use a sponge, a towel or a mop.
Which do you prefer?"
He chose the sponge and together they cleaned up.
His mother then said: "You know, what we have here is a failed
experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two tiny
hands.
Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if
you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it."
The little boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top near
the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it.
What a wonderful lesson!
This renowned scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that
he knew he didn't need to be afraid to make mistakes.
Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning
something new, which is, after all, what scientific experiments are all
about.
Even if the experiment "doesn't work," we usually learn something
valuable from it.
Wouldn't it be great if all parents would respond the way Robert's
mother responded to him?
Author Unknown
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