Educate Your Child to Accept Changes Optimistically

“You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have”– Jim Rohn.

Example –

In a jungle, a huge animal was tied with a small rope on his front leg. A little boy was amazed at why the elephant didn’t break the rope and set itself free.

His curiosity was humbly answered by the elephant’s trainer who elucidated the boy that when elephants were young they used the same rope to tie them, and at that time, it was enough to hold them without a chain.

Now after many years they still believe that the rope is strong enough to hold them and never tried to break it. 

One of the important parenting tips here is to educate your child. Just like the elephant tied down with a small rope, we are also caged in our own pre-occupied beliefs and assumptions which are not always true and can change over a period of time.

Bad habits affect a child’s mental development

Bad habits will contribute to affecting their physical and psychological development.

Such bad habits include –

1. Picking,
2. Thumb-sucking,
3. Teeth-grinding,
4. Lip-licking,
5. Headbanging,
6. Hair twilling/pulling
7. Eating junk foods,
8. Watching too much television, or 
9. Spending too much screen time on computers, laptops, playing video games,
10. Lying,
11. Using abusive language etc.

As mentioned earlier, these habits create a phenomenal impact on their physical and psychological development.

Sometimes our kids are so comfortable with their lives that any form of even a small adjustment in their daily routine makes them ‘uncomfortable’. They like the way things are, even if it is annoying.

Fortunately, at a young age, change is easy to accept, prepare and cope with it. Teaching children how to adapt to circumstances is not easy. But there are ways to help them to accept changes positively –

1. Make them conscious about the outcome.
2. Let them face their failures, rejections, fear, etc without guilt.
3. Don’t worry about what others will say. It’s their problem, not yours.
4. Coach them on how to analyze the changing situation and finding suitable solutions.
5. Forget the past and focus on the future.

Change is the only constant variable in our life.

So we need to and help them to accept changes as it is an ongoing, continuous and repetitive learning process.

Ways to make your child an optimist and positive thinker

Here are a few proven techniques we can teach our children to accept change lucratively –

1. Accept change positively

Accepting change means you are a good learner who wants to grow, try new things, seek more information and give up bad for better. So embrace change and learn to accept things you can’t change or try to change things you can’t accept.

2. Acknowledge change confidently

Along with teaching them to accept “changes”, it’s equally important to train them to acknowledge ‘challenges’ confidently –

“The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them”- Frank A. Clark.

Example 1 –

I am sure we all must have heard about the story of “cocoon and the butterfly”. How a little help from someone made it easier for the butterfly to come out of the cocoon but eventually it was never able to fly and soon died.

Lesson 1 –

The biggest lesson we can share with our kids here is that the continuous efforts from the butterfly to leave its shell allowed the fluid stored in their body to be converted into strong, beautiful and large wings, making their body lighter.

So if they (your kids) want to fly, make sure that they learn to face challenges and struggles in life confidently. 

Example 2 –

A long time ago an old lady in a small town lost her watch on her farm. She tried a lot to find them but in vain.Finally, she decided to take help from the local children as her watch was special since it was gifted by her son.

She offered an exciting prize for the child who would find her accessory. Excited kids tried a lot to find the watch but after several failed attempts most of them got exhausted, irritated and gave up.

The disappointed lady too lost all the hopes.

As soon as all the children left, she was about to close the door when a small girl requested to give her one more chance.

After minutes, the little girl found the watch. The astounded lady thanked her and asked her how she found the watch? She innocently rejoined that she got the direction through the ticking sound of the watch which was much easier to listen in silence.

The lady not only rewarded her but also lauded her elegance.

Lesson 2 –

Sometimes even a small sign is enough to solve the biggest hardship in life. It’s an honor to mention my favorite inspiring achiever who made a leap to greatness and overcame the biggest defy and hindrance in life.

Example 3 –

Helen Keller, an American author, political activist, lecturer and crusader for the handicapped was deaf and blind.

Helen Adam Keller was born as a healthy child; however, at the age of 19 months, she was affected by an unknown illness, probably scarlet fever or meningitis which left her deaf and blind.

Lesson 3 –

For a woman of grit and determination, challenges are blessings in disguise. She became the first deaf and blind person to earn a degree in Bachelor of Arts from Radcliffe.

She was a co-founder of the ACLU (American Civil liberties Union), she campaigned for Women’s Suffrage, labor rights, socialism, antimilitarism, and various other causes. During her lifetime, she was the recipient of numerous awards and achievements.

Truly inspiring! Winners like her and her stirring life journey help our child to surmount hindrances, resolve tribulations and attain triumph.

One of her best quotes, “When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us”.

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Rupal Jain

Rupal Jain holds an MBA degree from Atharva School of Business (Mumbai) with Marketing as her specialization. She has completed her graduation in management studies, M.Com from Mumbai University, PGDMM & PGDRM from ICFAI and Diploma in advertising and public relations from Wellingkar Institute.... Read more She has over 7 years of teaching experience in degree and post graduate colleges and currently associated with IIBMS. Read less

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