Give them a WHY instead of a WHAT

There have been hundreds of books written so far on parenting alongwith thousands of training sessions being conducted on it all across the world. And although all of these might help parents in the upbringing of their children, it is important to realise that simplicity is beautiful wherever it is applied. Hence I narrate here a little experience I went through today which was far more convincing than any well-dressed clean shaved well-spoken dude on tv telling people how to raise their kids.

One of my younger sisters is 9 years old. She asked me make her a bowl of Maggie noodles. I lit the stove, filled the pan with water, and waited for it to boil. My sister constantly kept coming near the stove and I constantly kept asking her to stay away. The water started to boil and I inserted raw noodles into it. She did the same, much to my annoyance. I started stirring, and she followed me. And even after my constant instructions to stay away from the stove, she kept on interfering the cooking process. Then I explained to her, "Listen. I am asking to stay away. Will it give me any benefit? No na. Its for YOU. I don't want YOU to burn your hand because then it will hurt really bad making you cry. Everything is REALLY hot here." It took her around 4 seconds to comprehend what I had said. The result? She quietly sat on the table as I prepared her the meal. And seeing me burn my own fingers twice gave her a practical example of what I meant!

Hence, children need a WHY more than a WHAT if you want them to do things your way.