Mistakes do not define you - Lets learn a life lesson
My father was a wonderful man. He was proud and wise and taught us a lot about the values we have today. My mother was equally wonderful and I have many happy memories about their kind, selfless outlook on life and what I learned from them.
One of the most important lessons I learned from him was
A mistake is not a mistake if you can correct it and how will we ever learn if we do not make mistakes...
We so often tend to judge people by one mistake they made in life, even if they try and turn their lives around. We will keep on hammering on the time when they made the mistake and mistrust them because of that.
We must watch out for this and understand that all people have good in them and one or two mistakes (which we all make) does not define who you are.
This does not mean you can keep on making the same mistake over and over and hurt people in your way, then you are not learning anything, or you simply do not care enough about others.
I see this a lot with my kids in class - too scared to answer because they do not want to make a mistake or get laughed at. I tell them every day How will we learn if we do not make mistakes?
Being the mother of an adult child is not always easy, standing by and watching how your child makes the wrong decisions are even worse, but at one or other stage we must let go and let them make their mistakes, and hope and pray they will come out in one piece on the other side, and if they cannot change their decisions, or correct their mistakes, learn to deal with the consequences.
Nobody ever said making and correcting mistakes are easy, but not giving up and learning from it and not judging people for some mistakes they make or letting it define them, that is the secret to it all.
(For some quotes on mistakes you can read here)
Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone
How often I reflect on our childhood, how our parents managed with many hardships yet still spent quality time directing, guiding four of us.
Having experienced grown up children, biting your tongue from time to time to hold back thoughts is harder than most realize.
Personally, now look back and think young children are easier to guide, start planting good ideas to let them grow. Your tutorials for assisting young parents in teaching new ideas, creative imagination have been great to follow @anneke
Thank you very much
Your father was a wise man @anneke, you're so right it's very difficult seeing our adult children make mistakes, we can guide them but they have the ultimate choice. All we can do is be there for them.
My very first boss was also a wise man, I was a learner draughtslady and he told me to write this down in my note book:
Think twice and draw once
I've often applied that in my life as well!
Thank you for this lovely post.
Thank you for the lovely reply