About Celebrating Our Children’s Accomplishments
I read about this 8-year old’s first Book Launch and just had to share it. Just another endearing example to show that parents and other grown-ups in a child’s life have a HUGE role to play when it comes to shaping the child’s attitudes, beliefs and personality. I believe that nurture has the power to trump nature in dire circumstances. But in most cases, nurture complements the gifts nature has endowed on a child.
Kiruba’s daughter Krithya is probably a regular 8-year old – bright, loveable, talented, funny, curious and full of life. But unlike most of her peers, Krithya just launched her first book – The Untold Story of the Rabbit and Tortoise.
Now, there’s nothing unusual about an 8-year old writing a story. (Not to take away from Krithya’s talents and efforts – I’m sure she’s an amazing young lady.) But, considering how fertile children’s imaginations are and how they constantly feed their curiosity, it’s hardly a surprise that kids have the ability to weave fascinating and entertaining tales that could give best-selling authors a run for their money. But what’s remarkable about this story is how the little girl’s parents go out of their way to encourage her and give wings to her dreams.
Kiruba is considered one of India’s top bloggers. He plays a key role in organizing blogging and social media events, entrepreneur’s meet-ups and bringing people and aid together for disaster relief measures. So organizing a book launch was probably a piece of cake. But the fact that he takes his 8-year old’s book this seriously is what makes the difference. The takeaway from this story is how special and important he and his wife have made their daughter feel on the occasion of the ‘launch’ of her first book.
There are a couple of important lessons in this story for all parents -
Don’t disregard imagination.
We all probably discard hundreds of worksheets, school assignments, pencil drawings and coloring books at the end of every year when we clean out our kids’ rooms in preparation for the next school year. I bet there is at least one piece in there that deserves to live and to take on a form that can be shared with the world – a story, a drawing, a doodle, a verse, a joke…if we only paid a little more attention to our kids’ creations.
Make a big deal out of kids’ efforts.
Krithya’s parents didn’t have to get the story published. They could have just let it languish in some old corner of their house and shown it to interested family members. They could have stuck it on their refrigerator for guests and relatives to see. But they chose to do more. They gave her story a form and shape for the world to enjoy, in the process encouraging their daughter(and her little sister) to value imagination and ideas. By publishing her book and by making a big deal out of her book launch, they showed her how important her thoughts, words and actions were. A bunch of grown-ups showing up to celebrate an 8-year old’s first book is a terrific way to validate her achievement, to boost her confidence in her abilities and to encourage her to put her sincerest efforts into all her work.
In this day of self-publishing, getting your child’s book published requires almost no effort. But not many of us decide to go through even the simple steps involved. Just getting the book self-published in itself would be a big deal for a child. But, this story has shown us that it’s lot more fun and not too difficult to take it just a step further. Why not hold an event to celebrate your child’s wonderful creation? And invite your child’s classmates, friends and role models( no harm in trying even if they’re celebrities!) to the event and having a party in honor of your child’s imagination and efforts. The principle can be applied to pretty much any form of art or expression. Regardless of your child’s interests, finding a way to applaud the efforts of your budding artist, musician, writer, inventor, geologist, astronomer, teacher or whatever it is your child is interested in, and to let him share it with the world is a fantastic way to sustain his passion. I imagine it also serves as tremendous motivation to him and his friends.
Many Congratulations to Krithya and to kids everywhere – thank you for keeping imagination, curiosity, humor and playfulness alive in our world. And to Kiruba – thanks for reminding us how our little( and not so little) gestures help kids stay that way.
I hope to get my hands on a copy for my daughter soon!
