Our 5 years old boy attends Sunday school and on Father's Day, I went to pick him up around the time his class ends but I realised there are many more kids who are still at the final stage of finishing their Father's Day crafts. I saw our boy standing next to a teacher, waiting patiently as the teacher folded what looks like a wire or cable from where I stood. When the teacher was done, she passed the completed crafts to our boy who happily walked around and he didn't even realised I called his name.
I was about to call him again when I saw him talking to another boy and after that, our boy's face changed. He looks angry and with 2 hands resting behind his back, he showed his angry face at the boy and shouted something. The boy, seeing our boy's angry face palmed his face and walked off. I then saw our boy walked towards a male teacher and explained something to the teacher. I waited to see what is going on and tried to assess the situation from where I stood. The male teacher who was also rushing to finish up other kiddos' crafts, just nodded at what our boy said and didn't act further.
Our boy turned around and saw me. He walked over to me and showed me his crafts.
It was an origami of working shirt for Father's Day. The obvious part done by the teacher(s) are the origami folding and the hanger wire or cable part. The working shirt has front and back coloring done by our boy and I like what I see. I like that the 'Happy Father's Day' words are colored nicely and within the characters (not out of line) and I also like that the 2 childrens' faces are closer to human skin color.
But you know what our 5 years old boy said to me?
"Mummy, that boy (pointing to the boy who palmed his face earlier) said my coloring is ugly!"
Aahhh.... now I get it. Now I know why our boy looked angry after talking to that boy. I mean, will you be happy if someone critisizes your hardwork?
Parents, remember, our words have power, remember to use them wisely.
Sigh... saddens me to know a child at such young age can utter such thing. You know, for a child to say something like this, they must have been exposed to such statements around their life.
What has a mum got to do in this situation? This is my conversation with our boy as we leave his class that day...
Me: Benjamin, did you color the crafts yourself?
Ben: Yes.
Me: Wow, mummy likes it very much. I like how you color each letters within itself and I like that the childrens' faces are yellow. Did you choose the color yourself?
Ben: Yes. But that boy said my drawing is ugly! I am angry at him!
Me: Well Ben, who is this craft for?
Ben: It's for daddy. For Father's Day.
Me: Is that boy your daddy?
Ben: No.
Me: Well, then why do you let yourself be bothered with the boy's comment? He is not your daddy, and you are not making this craft and coloring it for that boy. No need to be angry for this.
Ben: (silence)
Me: Now, most important thing to remember is you tried your best in doing this craft yourself. Did you give your best?
Ben: Yes, I color my best!
Me: Well then that is all that matters. That you do it all by yourself, nobody helps you to color at all. I'm sure daddy would be proud of your work too!
Ben: But that boy made me angry!
Me: It's OK, forgive him.
So parents, again... choose your words wisely. Say, do, react and response in positive manners as it will echo in other areas of your kiddos' life.
** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.
