Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Let’s face it, we parents repeat ourselves a lot, don’t we?

We ask them to do stuff.

Again and again.

‘Finish your food, now!’

‘Speak nicely to your brother, please!’

‘Hurry up and shower now!’

The list is endless.

Whatever it is that we say to our kids, I know for sure that we say it a LOT.

Now, the question is:

among all the things that we repeatedly say to our children, do we also say positive, encouraging things?

Do we share positive values with our young ones, and repeat them again and again?

Or do we perhaps tend to say negative things, offensive personal remarks in our moments of impatience?

‘Why are you so lazy??’

‘You lie to me, ah???!’

‘Can’t you do something right for once??’

This thought crossed my mind recently.

I ask myself: What have I been saying a lot to my kids all this while?

When they are all grown up and are faced with moments of doubt or struggles, what kind of things/values (that we have said in their early years) that will play in their heads?

Like,
at times when our child, who is already in his 30s, needs to make an important, big decision, does he hear (in his mind) us say to him:

‘Ah, you are so hopeless! Anything you do also wrong one!’

Or, does he hear us say:

‘Just do your best. Pray and ask God to give you the wisdom to make the right choice. You’ll do fine!’

…

Whether we like it or not, words are powerful.

What we say to them often STICK, till they are all grown up.

Let’s introspect ourselves.

Let’s add more positive phrases and values to our day, to THEIR day.

‘Just do your best at all times, even when no one is looking’

‘God is good’

‘Mommy still loves you, even when I am very sad with what you just did’

‘Don’t worry about what others do and say. Do what’s right.’

‘Be thankful to God for everything’

‘Be humble’

‘We are responsible for what we ourselves do and say. Choose what’s right.’

‘Love your siblings. They are God’s gift to us.’

Note to self:

Remember to add more positive goodness in what we say to our kids everyday.

Because we never know which words that our kids will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Ah, parenting is not easy.

May God help us.