“Wow” moments

“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

I believe this is a big part of our role as parents to ‘hew away the rough walls’ around our children to reveal the masterpiece that lies beneath?

How do we do this in our daily lives? I believe, just as Michelangelo took time to study each marble block, a great place to start is to really study our children. In doing this, we will begin to see and hear what things they are passionate about or what really makes them ‘come alive’. One thing we’ve noticed with our children is that they will often call out ‘Wow’ or ‘Mum, Dad, come look’. We’ve learnt that it’s those ‘wow’ moments that give us a window into what things are important to them. We then have the opportunity to encourage that by responding with our actions (actually stopping what we’re doing and going to look at whatever it is they are excited about) and our words (telling them how great it is or how glad we are they shared their ‘find’ with us). We all know how good we feel when someone takes the time to listen or look at things that are important to us and how encouraged we are when someone comments on a gift or talent we are working on.