Catalyst

Had I studied with the same commitment and energy I think I would have performed better.Now I am trying to use all my energy on my son and trying to make him do things which I did not do.A very memorable incident happened recently.

One month ago my son brought a book titled "Spelling Bee".This had around 1500 words.He told me that there is a spelling competition and he wanted to participate.I was happy at his interest but I also mentioned that he has to learn the spellings by himself if he had to really win.I was thinking from the perspective that he would improve his vocabulary but the brat was only thinking of the gold coins which he would get if he won the competition...(innocent mind).As expected he never sat to practice the spellings and I had to take him to target.Daily I started giving him dictation and make him learn the spellings.But I was surprised that he knew most of the words except for some. In between somehow we could not pursue this .We did not know the date of the competition also.
On Sat(21st-Jan-07)at around 7.00pm my son announced that the competition is on Monday(23rd-Jan-07) and he had remembered it just now.When I heard that, I was wild as he did not tell me before.I had no hope on this but still I thought I should push him to learn words.Grilled him for 2 hrs.We finished half the book.I instructed him that he should finish the rest on Sunday .
As expected on Sunday till afternoon the brat did not touch the book nor did he have the seriousness .I wanted to just leave it to him ,if he has interest he would do it.But finally I thought I need to be the catalyst and I had to push him to learn further.With great difficulty I made him sit to learn the rest of the spellings.At the end of day I felt I was stressed with vocabulary .I had no hope as this competition was for students in 1st and 2Nd std together and my son being in 1st std would be no match.In the morning I wished him luck....

In the evening I got a call from my son.He was so excited and the news was he stood first in the competition.I was dumb stuck.I was proud of him.He had been qualified for the district level and he would participate with other kids from all over Bangalore.It would be tough competition but this exposure would build confidence in him.
At the end of the day I felt proud and I felt that my trigger really helped and he was able to reach this level.We need to give enough confidence and keep on pushing them so that they can scale to heights......