"My daughter went to a wonderful preschool that had a slogan on its brochure: Value the Child. I liked the sound of that, but it took me time to realize what it meant. It didn’t mean what I thought at the beginning. I’m not sure how many other parents ever got the gist of it. To them, the value might have represented the bazillion dollars we spent on the monthly tuition. We already valued our children so much that we wanted them to have the best, and the most, and the first, and the highest.
In other words, we didn’t value our children at all.
When I say that my daughter went to the preschool I really mean that I went to the preschool, because I did, for part of every day. Gradually, I learned what the devoted, loving and talented teachers were showing me: what it means to value someone else.
It doesn’t mean to prize.
Not to elevate.
Not to demean.
Not to impose.
Not to judge.
Not to expect.
Not to push.
Not to accelerate.
Not to withdraw.
Not to give up.
Not to coddle.
Not to do things for them.
Not to do things to them.
Not to do things instead of them.
Not to do.
To value a child is to value them as they are. To support them where they are.
To show them the immeasurable and eternal value of love. It never stops growing."
From the blog Cheerio Road http://www.karenmaezenmiller.com/
Karen Maezen Miller
And....
A good mother is simply nothing like I thought. It turns out, among other things, a good mother:
Ignores unwanted behavior
Lets her child fail
Resists the urge to help
Stays in the background
Withholds praise
Doesn’t come to the rescue
Bites her tongue
Relinquishes control
From the blog Twelve and a Half Weeks
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=195375696476535428
Both struck me this morning and I thought I'd pass it on.
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