LETTING YOURSELF GROW
Did you know that the gestation period for an elephant
is 22 months?
And then, she will give birth to a bundle of joy that
weighs 150-250
pounds. If you're pregnant and sick of feeling like an
elephant, at
you aren't one.
Growth takes time. That is true of humans as well as
elephants. I
attended a parent-teacher conference for my second-grade
son.. We sat
in the children's chairs. They were about two feet tall
and certainly
not made for adults. Those chairs were designed for
little people.
Growth is a slow process, but as we grow up, we outgrow
the little
chairs.
We grow physically and we grow in other ways, too. We
grow in our
roles and relationships. I occasionally asked my adolescent
kids, "How
do you think you're doing raising your parents?" I
understood I would
become a better parent as I grew into that
role.
Sometimes growth in parenting involves the understanding
that we don't
know as much as we thought we did. Before my wife and I
had children
we taught parenting classes. We knew all of the
fundamentals of
raising happy and well-behaved children. Now, after
raising my own
children, I am sometimes asked about parenting issues.
This often
occurs when I am teaching a class on a different topic. My
response
these days is to turn to the group and ask, "Does anyone here
have any
suggestions?"
As I've grown older, I have come to see more clearly
just how much
more I need to grow. I realize that simple answers do not
fit every
situation ...or every child. I am throwing out the easy
answers and
learning to assess every parenting issue individually. I
try to learn
from my failures, to trust my instincts and to respond
more often from
my best self.
I have come a long way, but have a long way yet to grow.
And that is
true of every area of my life.
If you're not yet the person you want to be, can you be
patient as you
grow? It takes the elephant 22 months to give birth.
Even the
mightiest tree begins as a frail seed.
Be patient. You can go through life or you can grow
through life.
~~Steve Goodier
