What you Teach your Kids about Who They Are
In the book 'Song of the Bird' by Tony de Mello he tells a story of a man who comes across an eagle's egg one day and puts it in the nest of a barnyard hen.
The baby eagle subsequently grows up with the chicks thinking he is a barnyard chicken. He acts like the chicks, scratching the earth for worms and insects, clucking and managing to fly only a few feet into the air.
One day, when the eagle has grown old, he looks up and sees a magnificent bird above him gliding majestically among the powerful wind currents, its golden wings outstretched.
The old eagle asks his neighbour who the wondrous bird is and they answer, "That is the eagle, the king of the birds. He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we're chickens."
The tragic ending to this parable is: "So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was."
- How many of us live as if we're the chickens?
- How many of us listen to others when they tell us that we are 'just chickens' and try to dissuade our attempts to soar a little higher?
- What are we telling our children about who they are?
- How many of us have the insight and awareness to raise our kids as the eagles that they truly are?
Today, take every opportunity that arises to point out to your beloved children that they are the earth's eagles.
What does this mean?
What does it mean to be an eagle rather than a chicken?
What should you tell your children about who they are?
Here are some ready-made answers. Please feel free to borrow any of them!
You are so: smart, talented, friendly, loved, lovely, kind, good, giving, generous, caring, persistent, patient, tolerant, resourceful, creative, special, charismatic, brave, amazing, beautiful, strong.........
Take your pick!
Whenever we send our children a 'you' message we are planting a seed in their mind.
Let's try just for today to pay attention to those 'you' messages and start sowing positive seeds in their minds; seeds that they can turn to years from now when times get tough. Seeds that have grown into a plant so tall and whose roots are so long, no wind that life's storms blow on them can prevent them from standing tall in the knowledge of their true identity.
Teach your children well, Mother Eagle!
The baby eagle subsequently grows up with the chicks thinking he is a barnyard chicken. He acts like the chicks, scratching the earth for worms and insects, clucking and managing to fly only a few feet into the air.
One day, when the eagle has grown old, he looks up and sees a magnificent bird above him gliding majestically among the powerful wind currents, its golden wings outstretched.
The old eagle asks his neighbour who the wondrous bird is and they answer, "That is the eagle, the king of the birds. He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we're chickens."
The tragic ending to this parable is: "So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was."
- How many of us live as if we're the chickens?
- How many of us listen to others when they tell us that we are 'just chickens' and try to dissuade our attempts to soar a little higher?
- What are we telling our children about who they are?
- How many of us have the insight and awareness to raise our kids as the eagles that they truly are?
Today, take every opportunity that arises to point out to your beloved children that they are the earth's eagles.
What does this mean?
What does it mean to be an eagle rather than a chicken?
What should you tell your children about who they are?
- Your children can fly, soar, reach their goals effortlessly.
- Your children can be limited only by their beliefs.
- Your children are magnificent, graceful, powerful, awesome.
Here are some ready-made answers. Please feel free to borrow any of them!
You are so: smart, talented, friendly, loved, lovely, kind, good, giving, generous, caring, persistent, patient, tolerant, resourceful, creative, special, charismatic, brave, amazing, beautiful, strong.........
Take your pick!
Whenever we send our children a 'you' message we are planting a seed in their mind.
Let's try just for today to pay attention to those 'you' messages and start sowing positive seeds in their minds; seeds that they can turn to years from now when times get tough. Seeds that have grown into a plant so tall and whose roots are so long, no wind that life's storms blow on them can prevent them from standing tall in the knowledge of their true identity.
Teach your children well, Mother Eagle!