Nisha, New Delhi (Alumni of Loreto Convent Tara Hall, Shimla; Self Taught Artist; Montessori Trained Teacher; CELTA Qualified)
Being a teacher is an inherent trait in all of us. Children too are our teachers as we are theirs. We teach them the ways of the world, they teach us ways within.
No better lesson in patience, perseverance and endurance than watching our children grow, one day at a time. Laughing and crying with them through their ups and downs. What a way to realise our capabilities for unconditional love and selflessness. Lauding their achievements as personal victories. Trampling our egos as vestiges and standing by them even through the trying adolescent years.
Just as an ideal teacher they encourage us to dive within to bring forth our hidden potential to help us metamorphose into the best version of ourselves.
Parenthood is a life long learning experience!
Let’s share personal snippets from this journey which enriched our education.
Let me get the ball rolling…
“All children are a bundle of energy”, so I was told. But, by the end of two years I realised, here we were talking not of a bundle but a constant explosion! Each day started with a mission and a pledge of not loosing my cool. Most of the days ended with the elation of a victory, yet, there were days when I lost my cool. Soon, I realised something was amiss. My extra brilliant child who had the sharpness and wisdom much beyond his years, struggled with basic behavioural norms. Such as – just could not sit still, messed up and broke whatever he laid his tiny hands on, in spite of my best efforts he did not recognize the alphabets, mixed up numbers and shunned the text. Again the refrain, “don’t worry, he’s fine, all boys are mischievous”. He started loosing his confidence as a result of being constantly ridiculed for his shortcomings. I started looking for ways to help my child. On his teacher’s behest, I took expert advice and found out that he was borderline ADHD. Nothing grave, if handled with understanding.
This drove me to learn alternate ways of teaching to read and write. I delved into the reasons for all the why’s?
Why does my child never sit still?
Why does he shirk reading?
Why he does not want to write?
Why is he so sensitive? … and so on.
I got most of my answers and then struck a balance between what generally children with ADHD need and what my child individually needed. The combined effort of the teachers, us and most of all he, himself was extremely rewarding. Within four years, he has grown to be a responsible, calm and confident child, retaining his intelligence, wit and spirit.
This struggle was a challenge but a great learning experience for me.
(First in the series – it involves participation by fellow parents to share their learning experiences through their children. If you have a story to share, about how while teaching your children you learnt something new that changed your perspective towards life, e-mail it to us at [email protected])
Indeed parents and children are co-learners in the journey of life. Great read!