A Mother's Lessons from Teaching Her Son

They say the best teachers for our kids are us--the parents ourselves. And while I believe this to be true, I believe that we, too, are learners in the process. While we're imparting to them important knowledge and wisdom, they, unknowingly, give us some of life's most valuable lessons as well. That makes our kids the best teachers for us, the parents. :)

Our review/tutoring sessions vary. Before, it was hard, unfocused. Sometimes it's fun and oftentimes, it was not. As time went by, this mother learned her lessons and it became a turning point to her.

Here are some of the things I learned over the time my son and I have our review/tutoring sessions:

1. Patience

Being a teacher is not easy, especially of young kids, and I just feel blessed that Kristoff has had two of the most patient teachers I've known in our locality. Kaya I've made them as my model when I am teaching or reviewing with my son his lessons at home.

I used to be an English teacher of Koreans (both online and in a physical school) and I was very patient (really), but I seemed to be different when teaching my son. I was impatient and easily irritated when he couldn't grasp the lesson. He was feeling pressured and insecure because of how I was acting toward him. So I knew I was wrong. It wasn't helping him and it was straining our relationship.

I introspected and became aware of my feelings. I asked myself why I would force him to understand something that he isn't ready yet? I thought I was afraid for him not to catch up with his classmates and be tagged as "slow." No, no. I didn't want that to happen.

Then I realized that I should respect the learning process and be patient in teaching him. I'm doing this by envisioning myself to be the calm teacher that I have to be. I also made it a clear rule in my mind not to raise my voice when I'm tempted to. It's not that easy at first, but I get used to being the patient teacher that my son needs.

Indeed, patience is a virtue and it's bountiful fruits await in the end.

2. Respect

It's easy to be tempted to impose our wants to our kids, isn't it? After all, parents--or mothers--know best! However, each of our child is "fearfully and wonderfully" made by God that they have their own interests and preferences that make them the beautiful and unique person they are.

I respect my son as a unique person, together with his feelings, his wants, his learning style and all that is him. I see him as a person for what he is and not what he is not.

I'm not bragging here but just want to give a picture of where I was coming from: You see I graduated with high honors since elementary up to college. My husband received high honors in college too, and I would love my sons to follow that. However, that was us, and our kids may be different or they may tread a different path from ours, but still they are the fearfully and wonderfully made people of God--no more, no less. They'll make their own journey and carve their own success! There's no use comparing them to other kids or to ourselves. After all, each of us has something that we're good at and something that we're struggling with.

3. Focus and Consistency

Looking back, I've seen how my preschooler has improved from the cry-baby who didn't know how to do in exams to the confident pupil that he is now who would say his exams was "very easy."

I attribute this to our focus and consistency in teaching the concept to him. Indeed, constant practice makes perfect. He may never get it at first but through time, being consistent in practicing, and helping him focus on the subject is halfway to winning.

It is important that distractions (such as the cousins and the little brother haha) are kept out while we review.

If we want to master something, we focus on that one thing. Just like in life, we can't succeed on a specific area if our attention and energy are scattered and shared with other things. Actually, this is the lesson that I am still struggling on.

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How about you, care to share the lessons you learned from teaching your own kids? I'd love to hear that.