Elanso

Yesterday We Broke a Bowl – Talking About Parenting

It doesn’t matter to break one or two bowls, year in and year out, everybody may do it, and may be the amount of new bowls made annually is equivalent to those produced in one year. Saying this rashly and a second thought comes, one man breaks one bowl, in this rate, how many bowls will be broken a year? It will total up to 2 billion. Taking the entire world to considerate, it will be several billions more. Needless to mention how much it costs first, bowls are made by people through hard work, what a pity to have it crashed, shattered and disappeared. As money are concerned, it might cost tens of billions more, and if the money is given to children who are unable to go to school, I believe there will be no more any of them. If the money is used as relief to the needed, it can buy hundreds of millions cotton coats or quilts. This “popping” sounds, then money wasted, garbage created. A bowl may weigh about 250 gram, and it totals 2.5 billion kilogram and enough for a 5- ton truck to carry it 500,000 times to somewhere, and this cost much manpower, gasoline and land. I sigh with emotion. Things always go in this way, careful calculation brings about daunting imagery which blows away the airy mood.

Let me tell you the story happened yesterday about the broken bowl. I should make this clear that I hadn’t thought much about it before the bowl was broken. These thoughts come to me when I set my pen to paper. The bowl sacrificed yesterday is for my daughter’s sake. She is an average, six years old girl, and has nearly all the common weaknesses of kids’, such as active, absent-minded, slow responsive and careless. Of course, my daughter has something different from other children her age. She has a relatively wider knowledge base. She started to use computer when she was two and a half years old and has been with it for over 4 years. Except for typing, she is better than some adults at playing computer. She has played countless computer games over the past years, such as Human Gogo, Little Kid’s Paradise, Happy Primary School, Child Prodigy Training Camp, etc. She has watched many cartoons, beginning with Mickey Mouse, Shukebeida, and now she watches The Three Character Classic, Stories on Chinese Celebrities Who Learn Diligently and Arabian Nights. The little girl learns much in the process, but she also developed some bad habits for being with computer too much time and loosed parenting, being careless is a major shortcomings. To straighten her out and to improve her overall quality, we formulate and practice a happy growth program which includes that she should do more housework. Now, my daughter takes on the job to brush pan and wash dishes, and when she washed dishes yesterday, the bowl dropped and the story went on.

After we had lunch yesterday, my daughter swiftly cleaned the table, and washed the dishes. I checked and found a problem that she placed several bowls, which were of the same caliber, upside down on a plate, with other bowls over them. This was dangerous because, you know, the ceramics are of very slippery surface and easy to crash by a slight push. I hastily called her, giving praise for the good job she had done, while pointing out her error, telling her that if the bowls were moved, they would be broken and her hard work would be in vain. She knew her mistake and quickly defused the hazard, promising not to make such mistake again. In the evening, however, similar mistake occurred. She put a bowl over a cup which is on the edge of the sink, and if it was touched, it was sure to drop. Just then, she asked me for help to wash the rag, I went there and glimpse the situation. Considering that there will not be much help to make lecture again, and give her a lesson might impress her more, I feigned a carelessness and smashed the cup. Needless to say the result, seeing the debris on the ground, she nearly burst into tears and stayed there motionless for a while. In a soft voice, I asked her why it dropped. She said that she knew it and told me why. I asked her how to do afterward. She replied that she would place them in the cabinet and never put them on unstable stuff. Admitting the fault, and knowing how to correct it, she is indeed a smart and thoughtful child.

In this case, the child makes a mistake, but she doesn’t aware of it and can not foresee the consequences. Therefore, I don’t scold her, nor get angry with her, instead I demonstrate the error. When she realizes her mistake, I praise her in believe that few bowls will be damaged by her henceforth.

I’d like to offer a warm tip here: If I get angry with her, the effect may be better, but this may cause damage to her that she will never get over it even without another broken bowl in her future.