Growing up, I was always considered as very ‘lucky’ by my friends. The reason behind this is that I would never be told ‘no’ by my parents for anything that I wanted to do. So, I was sure that every time there was a school excursion announced, I was surely going. There’s a long list of movies that I have watched with my friends in the movie theatre, I have attended every trek or Guides camp that was offered by my school or other organisations that designed interesting activities for children, and in every new place I visited, I made new friends. I have many memorable moments that I cherish whenever I think about my childhood and college days, all thanks to the support, encouragement and love that I received from my parents.
At the age of six, I secured the first rank in a school exam. I was too young to understand what that meant, but I was overwhelmed by the festive kind of mood that followed for the next few days, where everyone who heard about this came to me with a smile and congratulated me. I asked my mother whether getting the first rank was something I should do all the time. She said, ‘do it if it makes you happy, do it if you want to do it’. I was self-motivated to excel in academics, set high goals for myself, and achieved them, all under the care of my parents. They never insisted that I should excel at anything, all they wanted was for me to be happy. I was never good at sports, but inspired by a friend, I decided in class 8 that I wanted to go for basketball coaching, my parents readily agreed.
Two months later, when my enthusiasm fizzled out, and I told my parents that I wanted to stop basketball, all they said was ok. Looking back, they could have easily stopped me from trying out basketball as I had a history of not doing well at sports, but they didn’t. After class 12, I decided to do B.Sc. in Chemistry, though I had good scores which could have secured me an Engineering or Medical seat. All my friends and relatives said my decision not to do Engineering or Medicine was a mistake, except my parents, who were very supportive of my decision to study Chemistry, as they knew that that Chemistry is what I love. One day, in my late twenties, when I had started teaching , I asked my parents why they never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do, they said that I had always made responsible choices, and they wanted to save up the no’s for the rare occasion when they were really worried, like the time my father said no when I wanted to join the National Cadet Corps in class 11, saying that I didn’t have the required physical fitness for doing it, which was true, and the fact that my father was a very successful NCC cadet himself, made it very easy for me to agree with him without getting upset. I am grateful that I have been blessed with such open-minded, progressive thinking parents.
Coming from such a background, it was very easy for me to inculcate Sunshine Worldwide School’s philosophy of ‘freedom with responsibility’. As an educator teaching adolescents, it gives me an opportunity to give the same freedom that I enjoyed as a child and adolescent to my learners, at the same time, I keep a watchful eye on my learners and gently nudge them in the right direction, always sharing the pros and cons of the learner’s decisions with them, which enable them to make an informed choice. I gladly share my experience with my friends, that all the children at Sunshine Worldwide School are as ‘lucky’ as I was, because the philosophy followed by the management at Sunshine Worldwide School gives the learners the best possible environment, to be able to achieve their full potential.
Thank You
-Reshmi Pai
Leave a Reply