Parents have a lot to learn from their children, business coach Nina Zvereva is sure. The older we get, the more difficult it is to perceive the new. And we often forget that we have great helpers in mastering new information — our children. The main thing is not to lose contact and be interested in their life.
Children are great teachers. They know how to take us at our word, so you have to think carefully before promising something. They know how to ask to do something that we have never done before.
I remember how at night my husband and I cut out and sewed little notebooks for Katya’s dolls for her birthday. She didn’t even ask. She just really loved such small details, she liked to play with dolls in «adult life». That’s what we tried. Our little briefcase with doll notebooks has become almost the best gift in the world!
For me it was a test. It has always been easier for me to compose a poem than to iron a child’s dress with frills. Making snowflakes for the holidays in kindergarten was a real punishment — I never learned how to make them. But I made a herbarium of autumn leaves with pleasure!
I even learned how to clean huge windows in the classroom, although once I almost fell from the fourth floor, frightening the entire parent team. Then I was honorably sent to wash desks from various love confessions and other words that did not want to disappear.
The children grew up. They suddenly stopped liking fatty foods, and I learned how to cook diet food. They also spoke excellent English, and I had to work very hard to remember all the old stock of English phrases and learn a new one. By the way, for a long time I was embarrassed to speak English in the company of my own children. But they warmly supported me, praised me a lot and only occasionally carefully changed unsuccessful phrases to more accurate ones.
“Mom,” my eldest daughter told me, “you don’t need to use “I want”, it’s better to say “I’d like”. I tried my best, and now I have quite decent spoken English. And it’s all thanks to the kids. Nelya married a Hindu, and without English, we would not be able to communicate with our dearest Pranab.
Children do not teach parents directly, children encourage parents to learn. If only because otherwise they would not be interested in us. And it’s too early to be just an object of concern, and I don’t want to. Therefore, one has to read the books they talk about, watch the films they praise. Most of the time it’s a great experience, but not always.
We are different generations with them, this is essential. By the way, Katya told me about this in detail, she listened to an interesting deep lecture about the habits and habits of those who are 20-40-60. And we laughed, because it turned out that my husband and I are the “must” generation, our children are the “can” generation, and our grandchildren are the “I want” generation — there are “I don’t want” among them.
They do not let us grow old, our children. They fill life with joy and fresh wind of new ideas and desires.
All my texts — columns and books — I send to children for review, and long before publication. I was lucky: they not only carefully read the manuscripts, but also write detailed reviews with comments in the margins. My last book, “They Want to Communicate With Me,” is dedicated to our three children, because after the reviews I received, I completely changed the structure and concept of the book, and it became a hundred times better and more modern because of this.
They do not let us grow old, our children. They fill life with joy and a fresh wind of new ideas and desires. I think every year they become more and more significant support group, which you can always count on.
There are also adults and young grandchildren. And they are much more educated and smarter than we were at their age. This year at the dacha, my eldest granddaughter will teach me how to cook gourmet dishes, I look forward to these lessons. The music that I can download myself will play, my son taught me. And in the evening I will play Candy Crash, a rather complex and exciting electronic game that my Indian granddaughter Piali discovered for me three years ago.
They say that the teacher who lost the student in himself is bad. With my support group, I hope I’m not in danger.