“Children will not remember you for the
material things you provide but for the feeling that you cherished them”
- Richard L Evans
I wish more
people would appreciate this.
You can
give a child all the experiences possible in life but if you do not value and
respect them, this is the thing they will remember most about their childhood.
Some of the
conversations I have overheard and witnessed during my lunch break make
me so sad for some children.
“Someone
needs a good hiding” - from an elderly
lady about a child crying for a new toy
“You are an
idiot” – from a parent walking in the street with their child.
“Get in
your f****** pushchair” - from a parent dragging
their child along by the arm
The list goes
on….
I recently
posted about this on twitter and it was suggested that maybe I should not be so
quick to judge, I do not know the parent, the child, or their situation, it was
suggested that it could simply have been a one off, a bad day.
I
appreciate that there will be occasions when I should not judge so quickly but
my concern is that if this is how children are treated in public, and the type
of conversations and language they are exposed to in social settings then what
are they witnessing and hearing in the confines of their home?
Is a child
walking slowly really that much of a hindrance to you?
Is their
tantrum because a parent wont buy them a new toy really so difficult to watch?
The old
lady commented that the child needed a good hiding! Is that really the way to
teach the child they can not have everything they want in life? Instead of
judging that mother why not offer her a supportive smile.
We have all
been there and if you haven’t then just appreciate that she is trying to teach
her child a valuable lesson. Dealing with those incidents are stressful enough
without other people offering their “advice”.
Married, single,
mum, dad, well off or struggling, manners and respect cost nothing to give, nothing
to teach and yet often mean more than any physical offering.
A young boy,
probably only around 5 years old recently held the door open to me at work. Its
surprising how such a small simple gesture brightened my day.
Do not get
me wrong, I am far from a perfect parent, I lose my patience, I raise my voice,
I am not always the parent I want to be but I would like to think that I show
my children love and respect and that they know this.
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