They still haven't invented a dumber animal than an adult. It is even possible to create one. Give a very dumb adult the responsibility of bringing up a child and you will see how an unparalleled adult is made even dumber.
I meet every week with children and their families. I hear fathers, mothers, grandparents, sometimes uncles and sisters talk about the problems the child has at home. The most spoken phrase in all these meetings is always: “But I tell him/her to do this and he/she doesn't”, always followed by a face worthy of pity – style “I've tried everything in this life, this child does not listen to me”.
Exactly, children don't listen.
When I said that these beings are cunning, it is because they are. No child follows the most hypocritical saying of all time: "Do as I say, not as I do." No child in this world learns from a sermon. Children learn by example.
In one of these meetings, the father of a boy complained that his son didn't read and, therefore, took his video game away. He spoke proudly, as if he had discovered the ideal formula for raising a child (which doesn't even exist, we'll talk about that later). I asked this father what his routine was, the answer was no different than I imagined, but the coolest thing — and not surprising — was that the father didn't read either.
Look how crazy, huh?! The father emphasized every day of his life that reading is important, but his son, who is a child — and who, being a child, is damned from head to toe — thought: if it's really that important, why would Mr. never read? He just thought, because children are smart, and he didn't say anything, he was just going to play video games.
I repeat the title here for you to understand the message: if your children are not following your advice, it may be time for you to follow them yourself. Start doing what you say, child follows example and not advice. If you want your child to eat more salad, eat yourself and show him. If you don't want him to smoke, don't. If you want him to read it, read it. Then, things will get better. In that case you can even advise, because there will be truth in your speech.
Children are always smarter, but we adults can try harder.
