“A person’s a person no matter how small.”
Dr. Seuss
Good Morning!
I love Dr. Seuss. I love all his books. They are imaginative, fun to read, and filled with tiny nuggets of wisdom scattered among the most wonderful nonsense. Today’s quote is a perfect example.
It is so easy to think of our children as simply a child and not a person. We do so many things to our children that we would never dream of doing to a “person”. A few examples: we put food in front of our children and totally expect them to eat everything we give them- no choices, just eat. We tell them when to go to bed, when to wake up, what to wear, and how to style their hair. We tell them to hurry-up, slow down, wait for us and do what I say. Are you getting the picture? If you think about it, it really is no surprise that they throw some pretty good tantrums! I am pretty sure that I would be frustrated enough to throw a major tantrum if someone was always telling me what to do 24/7. In fact I am sure I have thrown a few tantrums when I felt that life was totally out of my control. 🙂
I am certainly not suggesting that we let our children run wild and make all of their own decisions all of the time but…we can certainly give them choices everyday day based on their age and development. We can start with small decisions like red shirt or blue shirt or even whatever shirt you want and gradually let them have more and more power in making decisions in their lives. I know it may seem like a long way down the road but someday that will leave you to follow their own path and don’t you want to make sure that have a lot of experience making decisions when they leave?
I think a big part of what Dr. Seuss is saying has to do with respect. Everyone, “no matter how small” deserves our respect. The Miriam-Webster dictionary defines respect a : a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way. I am positive that we all believe that our children are important, we just sometimes forget to treat them that way.
So…as you go about your daily routine with your children try and remember Dr. Seuss’s words; “A person’s a person no matter how small”. Then deal with that small person with the same respect that you would show a big person. You just might be surprised by how your child reacts.
Have some fun today!
peggy
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