Often, we make mistakes in the name of love, hoping our children will follow the path we've designed for them—earning countless honors to bring glory to us as parents. We want our children to help us show off, to win applause from teachers and acquaintances.People will say, "Look how well this family has raised their child!"
How to raise children to become accomplished individuals has become a tremendous challenge for parents. Raising a newborn infant into an adult is the most arduous task in the world. Many parents exhaust themselves over their children, a task demanding far more talent, ability, patience, wisdom, and love than most ordinary jobs.A friend of mine enrolled her child in calligraphy, English, public speaking, dance, piano, and other tutoring classes, leaving the child exhausted and even developing a dislike for learning. Yet all this is done in the name of loving our children. We fail to understand the natural laws of childhood development. In a sense, we unknowingly commit the folly of trying to help seedlings grow faster by pulling them up, depriving children of the chance to make mistakes and learn valuable lessons from them—opportunities that build their capabilities.Thus, children have no freedom in choosing their path to growth, nor can they develop their own interests and hobbies—the very things that serve as the most precious catalysts for their development. We believe our parents genuinely love their children. Children should not become mere ornaments for our vanity.Every parent who loves their child should return the right to grow to the children themselves—allowing them to make mistakes, allowing them to try their own ideas. Just as we watched them learn to speak and walk as toddlers with joy and encouragement, until they found the right way through repeated failures!
We gave birth to our children, but they are absolutely not our private property!We must love our children genuinely, not merely for the sake of our own pride!