Last week, I had a chance to interact with the founder team of Champs Learning. While interacting and understanding the philosophy behind their establishment, the founder director said, “Since we initiated Champs Learning, our foundation was laid on believing that each and every child is unique and every child has the potential to become what they really want to. Every Teacher at Champs believes that each child has the ability to transform themselves into a beautiful version they would be proud of. With this faith, all our projects and classes are specifically designed and aimed at bringing out the best in every student who enrolls with us. This is a non-negotiable principle, something that has helped us and the students benefit from all the interactions equally”.
If we speak about manifestation, it’s a well-known theory that we are capable of manifesting whatever we really want in our lives. The law of attraction works wonders when we practically apply it to any goal that we want to achieve. If you firmly believe in something, you will focus with your entire might to make it happen, that’s the practicality of it. Hence, we need to ensure we believe in our child’s ability and potential. It is important because the child looks at parents and teachers for validation and attention. A child knows only one thing, if parents and teachers put their trust in him/her, he/she will strive to be the best version of themselves.
I guess it`s story time again, such topic definitely calls for a story. I hope this story will make you believe in the power of your belief in someone. Of course, it’s not a tale, but based on real life incidents.
A very academically average student, who was also an introvert level max, managed to score decent grades, but never really believed she could be in the top five in her class. She was very much interested in dancing, debate and also mostly knew all the answers to all the questions asked during the lectures. However, because she was an introvert, she never really mustered the courage to speak or try anything new. Her confidence in herself was probably low because her parents were not really into extra-curricular stuff and maybe whenever she decided to tell her parents about what she wants to participate in, she was not appreciated. So up until the 5th grade she kept helping her friends with debates and dance and her friends kept acing at stuff. Not so cool, right? Well, but if that was the only way she could express herself and indirectly participate in stuff.
In year 6 however, her parents decided to send her for extra classes to strengthen her academically. She met a brilliant teacher, who not only encouraged her to study harder, but also recognized the potential she had in her all along. The teacher realised that she didn’t need to teach her, but bring out the best version of her which she has been incessantly hiding out of fear of rejection. This teacher rewarded every small achievement of hers. The moment she just answered in the class, teacher applauded. Every time she scored well in a test, it was written on the merit wall. This teacher also held small parties for all her students, where students could mingle and participate in a talent competition. This teacher made sure every student performed a bit of what the students thought they were good at. Our girl shone at every party. A girl who was an introvert, bagged the first prize at every single party. She learnt to be fearless, she became more confident, she began speaking up and participating even at school. Post 6th grade, this girl joined a dance group and an acting group at school. She participated and won many debates, she participated in a hell lot of dances, she even joined multiple professional dance courses. A huge part of her personality was constructed because of a single person whom had shown a lot of faith in her. Let’s not overlook the academic part, post her year 6 , our girl was always in top three. She was all over the place. Now I am not saying that she grew up to become a professional dancer, or a state senate, or a global trend setter, but she gained the necessary confidence. She was able to do justice to her talent and she reached her right potential. She grew up to be a marketeer, which of course needs a lot of public speaking, so there you go.
Faith always works. A child looks up to someone and when he/ she knows that this someone believes in him/her even when the whole world may not, he/she gets that confidence. Confidence is the basic requirement to achieve anything in life. As a parent and a teacher, it’s your responsibility to constantly validate what your child is doing. Participation matters too. Once the child gets the required validation from a parent, teacher, even friends, failure does not hurt, but the child will stay motivated to do better the next time.
If we want to take away anything from this huge story then I think these are some pointers:
o Identify what is unsaid- The teacher identified what she needed to do. Not always what is said is what is to be done as a parent or a teacher. Sometimes the child is an introvert and you really have to understand and gauge your job there.
o Reward with praise, constantly- Every small achievement needs to be appreciated. This boosts the child’s confidence.
o Validate where needed- The teacher validated her opinions, this gave our girl confidence to express what she was good at. Well, look around, the world is now expecting validation. An entire industry / profession of social media influencers is based on seeking validation. It is an innate human desire to be validated and appreciated.
o Guide the child- Once your child has expressed an interest in something, guide them further to reach their goal. The teacher helped her academically, helped her with the public speaking, helped her by making her showcase her talent. Once pushed in the right direction, the child will take it from there.