Toddlers are always beautiful and innocent. I love being around them. Have you ever learned anything from a toddler? I guess we might all say no. After all, what do they know?
It was a bright and beautiful Saturday morning. I visited my colleague, Mr. Mark, at his house. Mark had been sick for some days, and everyone missed him at the office. I was asked by my boss to go and pay Mark a visit since I was leaving the same estate with him.
I arrived at Mark's house around 11 a.m., and I met him and his wife at home. "Good morning, Ani" Mark said. I replied with a smile "Good morning, Mark. I see you enjoying this beautiful Saturday with your family". "My brother, only if I could eat all the delicious meals my wife has been preparing for me". We all laughed, and I said to him "A foodie like you has been humbled by sickness". Mark's wife laughed and said "He can't even eat his favorite food to tell you how serious the sickness is".
I was happy to see that Mark was laughing and looking happy. We talked about football and Mark's favorite team. "Mark you who can't kick a ball is now an expert in football," I said, and everyone laughed. Mark replied "My brother staying at home made me really watch my favorite team, and I know their abilities". I laughed. "So just three days at home, you are a football analyst," I said as I sipped the pineapple juice I was served.
Mark's baby crawled into the living room, and as he said on the floor, he looked around the living room like he was searching for something. We all stretched out our arms, but he avoided all of us. All of a sudden, he started laughing, clapping, and bouncing on the floor. I thought to myself, "What could be making him so happy?" He crawled towards the table in the living room. Then I noticed there was a toy phone on the table. The toddler tried to get the phone from the table, but each time he tried, he fell to the floor. At some point, I thought he would stop trying and start crying so that we could help him out. But he kept trying, and I tried counting the number of times he attempted to get the phone from the table and realized it was about 16.
On his 17th attempt, he was able to get the phone off the table. He had learned from his previous failures, and at each attempt, he adjusted and was able to grab the phone at last. And we all clapped and jeered at him.
At the moment, the baby became a source of motivation for me.
There was a particular task I was given at the office, and I was finding it difficult to execute. My boss had informed me that three other people had attempted and failed at that particular task. I said to myself, "If an 11-month-old toddler did not give up after so many failed attempts, then I shouldn't give up no matter how many times I failed.
As I got back home, I tried solving the issue, and at each attempt, I took notice of why I had failed previously and adjusted. To my greatest surprise, on the sixth attempt, I was able to solve the problem. I smiled and said to myself "You needed a toddler to get you motivated".
I was happy I was able to solve the task and also learned a life lesson from a toddler.
various factors can motivate us actually. The fact that you can learn a lesson from a child and get motivated from it shows that you are someone who is always ready to learn.
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You are welcome
Many times we lack the persistence of a baby to achieve something. At the first failure many people stop trying and stay there unhappy. A great message you leave us this day.
Thanks for sharing.
Good day.
Thank you for your comment, I learnt that day that failure is a learning process.
Not everyone would have seen any motivation in baby's attempts. For me it was indeed a great motivation and something I would have learnt from. I love the fact you learnt from it and that motivated you to excel in your own task.
Very true,most times we adults don't realize that even little children can teach us life lessons.
Exactly.
A timely message left for you by the baby. There is sense of fulfilment and joy that comes with getting a task done after multiple failures.
Thank you for your comment. We learn everyday.
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Patience. That is another lesson that we can learn from toddlers. Because they can certainly test that in an adult. But perseverance is a good one! In constructing your #CNF remember that just like when constructing a fictional short story, you need to consider how you will develop the story to its climax, where the conflict will occur, and how it will be resolved. It felt that a portion of the back story in your piece was unrelated to the conflict within yourself. Your writing would also be elevated if you used an editor like Google docs or Grammarly to edit your work before publishing. eg: on a couple of occasion the incorrect word is used such as leaving instead of living and jeering instead of cheering.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/creative-nonfiction-what-it-is-and-tips-for-success
We recommend the article, Help for the Grammatically Challenged, which provides important tips on how to use Google Docs to draft your stories. It will point out errors that need to be fixed, and you can fix them by clicking on them.
The Ink Well is devoted to encouraging quality fiction writing and community engagement. You will find if you take the time to improve your writing and fix grammatical errors, you will receive higher curation on your posts
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What a great story you told us. The younger the children the more they surprise us. They always try to get what they want even if they cry.
We were like that but as we grow up we lose that motivation but we can get it back. I liked it a lot.
Regards @kinganny