56 Things You Must Do for Your Child

Author: Wei Dong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Even the youngest children have their dignity, especially when parents unintentionally hurt their tender hearts. As a remedy, parents must apologize promptly and should not hesitate to admit their mistakes out of consideration for their authority.
Morley Raymonds also had a conflict with his daughter over a hat. Fortunately, her reaction earned his daughter's appreciation, making it one of their best memories.
It was a lovely children's hat with a fluffy Angora pom-pom on the soft brim.
When we bought that hat, our daughter was only six years old. Due to her susceptibility to ear pain, we never let her go outside without a hat in the winter. However, for some reason, she hated that hat. She would come up with any excuse not to wear it. When she couldn’t think of any more reasons, she would simply hide it from us.
One morning, as the school bus driver honked outside our house, urging her to hurry, we were searching for the hat! "But I really didn’t hide it last night," our daughter cried pitifully.
"Did you hide it before? Then why should I believe you?" I retorted.
Angrily, I shoved her out the door and told her to hurry onto the waiting bus. I yelled after her from behind, "If your ears hurt tonight, don’t come crying to me."
I shut the door and watched the bus drive away. As I gathered the laundry, my anger grew. She must know where the hat is hidden. Muttering to myself, I opened the washing machine lid and suddenly spotted the hat! It then occurred to me—I had thrown it there myself the previous night!
In that moment, I felt utterly ashamed. Staring at the clock on the wall, I paced the floor. The first class ends at 9:15. Can I wait that long to tell her how sorry I am?
At exactly nine o’clock, I drove to the school and parked by the playground. Finally, the dismissal bell rang, and first-grade students streamed out of the classrooms like a small stream. There she was! I got out of the car and called her name. When she saw me, her face lit up. She bounced toward me with joy.