The True Strength

In the past, when I was nineteen, I was teaching in a kindergarten. The children were between five and eight years old. Meanwhile, something happened that affected me deeply. I witnessed a fight between two children over who would get to play on the slide first.

After five minutes of shouting, screaming and crying one of the two children stopped crying, wiped his tears, hugged the other child and said, “M mmm, ok don’t cry. I am older than you and I should act like a big man…now you are the next player and always you will be the first.”

What surprised me the most at that moment was how this little boy controlled his anger and contained his friend. Honestly, I didn't expect to learn such an important life lesson from a little kid: that true strength lies in controlling your emotions.

It was an important lesson I will never forget.

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Shaza Alhabash - Syria

Learning from Children

It is an interesting thing to learn from a child.

I remember when my daughter was about 4 or 5 years old, and we went to a playground and there was a large colourful inflatable slide. She wanted to climb it but it seemed difficult. I could hear her inner voice wondering could I do it? Let’s try.

She tried to climb, but the first few times were full of disappointment, but she kept trying, adjusted her position and tried again. And eventually after many times she reached the top. She was extremely happy.

While I was watching my daughter, I learned a very important thing, which was the great value of persistence and to keep trying over and over. Children often have this ability to not give up and face the challenges to learn and grow up. In adulthood, this kind of flexibility to face challenges may fade in time because of fear of failure or judgement. But watching my daughter reminded me that persistence is key, and success does not come from avoiding failure but from keeping trying and never giving up.

It might be surprising, because we usually think of children as needing guidance or advice, but my daughter could teach me an important lesson that I had forgotten which is the value of persistence, and it was really such an excellent experience.

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Nagat Shaaban - Egypt