After spending time to convince Daniel to go to school ontime this morning, I realize that kids need motivation every day, and encouragement to take the right steps in life.Motivating Daniel
Kids start to rebel even at an early age. Perhaps disgruntled with various expectations, or slight remarks from peers, they will refuse to dress, refuse to wash, refuse to go to school. No this. No that. I don't want this. I don't want that. I want this. I want that. This morning I find Daniel in a typical grumpy state.
Strong discipline will have no lasting results. While he knows what is good and what is bad, his emotions will dominate over his mind, particularly when he has yet the determination to be a good boy.
Fortunately, we have been showing movies like Pinocchio (a wonderful instructional story for kids), and his favorite superheros such as Batman, Robin, Spiderman, Superman. We happened to watch Hercules the night before about heroism as well. From these, we have both negative and positive teaching.
So I remind Daniel: Do you remember what happened to Pinocchio when he refuses to learn? He got tricked by bad guys. He did not know that coins don't grow on trees. And later he became a donkey. Do you want to be like him? Do you want to play with the bad guys? Pinocchio refuse to drink his medicine because it didn't taste good. What will happen to him? Did he want to go play with the black rabbits?
From a positive point: Do you want to be like a superhero? Remember what makes Hercules a hero? Going to school and learn lots of things is not enough. You have to be good, and help people. He has to help people when they are in trouble. What makes Batman or Robin heroes? They know a lot of things. They eat and exercise to be powerful. But they need to know how to help people. So do you want to get dressed quickly, like Spiderman or Superman who changes as he runs?
Eat your breakfast and exercise to be strong as all the heroes? Go to school and learn how to read and write and count, so that you will know how to help Daddy or other people? Do you want to be a good boy like Spiderman, or play with bad boys as Pinocchio did?
This long inductive session has affirmed Daniel the importance of his daily routine, and most of all his determination to be good. It is almost like a sermon to remind him and encourage him to take the right path. And such talks are almost needed daily!
We all need motivation
For adults, jobs and family issues may drain our energy, and we need ways to re-energize and to motivate ourselves in order to get back on track. Some rely on the weekly Sunday sermons from church, others rely on web commentaries, while others depend on advice from friends or books. No matter what, we all need to be motivated on a regular basis to stay on track and get through the difficult journey of life.
It is certainly a revelation that kids need similar nurturing on a regular basis, to be encouraged to do what is right. These daily lessons help them to win the battles in their moral dimension. I find all of this worth sharing with other parents. Only registered users can write comments.
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