Teach a Person to Fish

There is a saying : If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life.

There are TV shows everywhere in the world showing them giving people a new home or make over of the home, because the houses were cluttered and run down.  In one show, they revisited the homes of those they helped renovate a year ago.  Most of the homes' condition were acceptable.  But of those who were cluttered again, one owner responded :"It's only a small mess..."

On the other hand, there are TV shows that teach people how to declutter their house, and also revisiting them later on to check on them.

In my opinion, teaching people to declutter is definitely more meaningful than to give people a renovation for free.  Because, if they don't get it, they don't get it.

We can apply this understanding when we educate the young in our schools and at home. When a kid falls down, let the kid pick himself/herself up, instead of rushing to help the kid.  The process of learning is crucial for success later on in life.  Do not cut short this process.

Teach our kids to take care of their surroundings, do house chores, learn to cook, instead of doing their bed and washing their dishes for them.  Explain the rationale behind the Do's and Don'ts that we lay out, instead of just telling them what they cannot do.

Teach them the reason and logic behind formulas, instead of just telling them to apply the formulas.  The Chinese has a saying 举一反三。Meaning if you state one example, the person is able to give you another three examples based on the same principle.  This shows that he/she has understood.

So, what are we doing with our kids nowadays?

Picture above is from BigStockPhoto.