Mirrors

When I hear children whisper to themselves “I can do this,” I know that sometime in their life, an adult has whispered to them “you can do this.” I know that in their life there are adults that take chances, leap without nets, and take on challenges.

When I hear children whisper to themselves “I am stupid,”  I know that sometime in their life, an adult has whispered to themselves “I am stupid,” or sometimes an adult has shouted it in anger toward that child or toward another adult.

I often hear my own words repeated back to me, “How are YOU feeling about that?”

I see my actions, and all of your actions play out in theirs.

In my opinion, we have very few more important roles as adults, than influencing children that we interact with. It doesn’t matter to me if you are their parent, their teacher, their coach, their mentor, their neighbor, or like me, their therapist.

Children are mirrors. And what they reflect back to us,  are our own actions. When I have children acting out with dolls in my dollhouse, I can see the reflection of their home. Of their hearts. Of every interaction they have absorbed.

And trust me, even though you may believe they are not listening. . . they hear every word.

Use them carefully.

“Careful the things you say, children will listen. Careful the things you do, children will see and learn. Children may not obey, but children will listen. Children will look to you for which way to turn, to learn what to be. Careful before you say ‘Listen to me,’…children will listen.” ~from the musical “Into the Woods”

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Linked up with Group Blogging Experience 2, the prompt this week was “Mirror.”