Molly Fernandes
Couple of days back on an evening the children were playing while our gardener was watering the pots. I see him doing the routine in the evenings. I too have three four pots in a small passage but I don’t give water daily. This reminded me of the story that I read sometime back.
Yes, there were two neighbours one of them a retired teacher and the other happened to be an insurance agent. Both of them had planted different plants in their garden. The teacher gave small amount of water to the plants and periodically attended to them while the neighbour gave lot of attention and provided much more water to the plants.
The teacher’s plants grew but looked simple and the insurance agent plants were much greener and looked beautiful. It so happened one day there was heavy rain with strong wind. Next morning when both the neighbours opened the door they saw the harm the storm had done. But the plants planted by the retired teacher were not damaged and were standing firm, while the insurance agent plants were uprooted and totally destroyed by the storm.
The insurance agent was surprised to see this, so he went to the teacher and said: “We both had planted plants together, plus I had given more attention and care to my plants than you but still my plants are destroyed by the storm while your plants are standing firm unaffected by the wind”.
The teacher smiled and answered, “It is true that you had given more care and attention to the plants but you had not let the plants to search for food and water by themselves. While I only provided adequate amount of water to the plants and let them search for more by themselves. Due to which the roots of my plants got deeper and deeper in search for more food and water. And thus this made their position stronger. That’s why my plants survived”.
This is what happens with parents and children. As I saw our gardener and the children a reflection was ready as I watched them playing the outdoor games we once played while in our homes. But, nowadays children are seen playing with the play stations, mobile games, etc. This is all because like the insurance agent, most parents give much more attention and care to their children either with fear or to please them. They provide them every facility and don’t let them search and find it on their own. Due to which, children don’t recognise the worth of it.
Sometimes, parents often miss this part in parenting. There’s nothing wrong with caring your children but like the insurance agent providing everything at their disposal without allowing them to search for it will only result in disaster in the days of storms.
So like the teacher we need to provide facilities to our children and help them find their path by walking it themselves. This will enable them to recognise the merit of hard work and know the value of money and understand the significance of life which money cannot buy nor give. Thus in times of failures and disappointments children will manage to stand firm no matter how gusty the wind and strong the storm (in life) is, just like the roots that seek deeper and grows stronger, endure and face it.
