Sometimes a 5 minute chat with my dad turns into a life long lesson that could be shared with your grandchildren when you're like 65. So the other night we were talking about the usual "how's your day?" "how's work?" etc etc...and then a little bit of family talk came into the convo...somehow it turned into talking about limitations and he shared with me a story about how he raised me and my brother. His philosophy is about guiding, leading and being flexible enough to let children learn when they're ready. No it wasn't a Dr. Phil special or an episode of Oprah, but a true to heart talk about how he's tried his best to raise good kids (which I appreciate). He talked about what it's like being raised as a child in Hong Kong with two other sisters...he talked about this special Hong Kong broadcast he listens to and had a story about limitations. How if you don't give children limitations, or guidelines to live, especially when they're older, the world ends up teaching them...which more often than not results in less than favorable consequences...he said this which was interesting:
"It's like having a child stand close to the ocean...the child is full of excitement at first, but then a rush of fear fills his heart...his knees tremble...at the site of the never ending ocean..vast...deep....uncertain.....the water is deep blue and the waves are crashing...unpredictable. He understands there is uncertainty"
The ocean represents a world without boundaries...without some kind of framework to help us understand where the limits are..the unpredictability can be fascinating..whether you're exploring the coral reefs or dangerous...
I like to perceive the analogy in a simple way..because I think the point is all that matters. It made sense to me and whether it's guidelines, limitations, discipline...or whatever....I will always appreciate any "heads up" that I can get.
"It's like having a child stand close to the ocean...the child is full of excitement at first, but then a rush of fear fills his heart...his knees tremble...at the site of the never ending ocean..vast...deep....uncertain.....the water is deep blue and the waves are crashing...unpredictable. He understands there is uncertainty"
The ocean represents a world without boundaries...without some kind of framework to help us understand where the limits are..the unpredictability can be fascinating..whether you're exploring the coral reefs or dangerous...
I like to perceive the analogy in a simple way..because I think the point is all that matters. It made sense to me and whether it's guidelines, limitations, discipline...or whatever....I will always appreciate any "heads up" that I can get.