I was excited when my first child started preschool at age 3. I was new to parenting and eager to learn.
In the first week of school, a Tea Party was organised for parents and teachers to get to know one another. It was also an avenue for parents to help teachers know more about their child.
The head teacher attended each class party very briefly and gave a two-minute speech that helped my parenting skills. He advised us to listen to our children and help solve their overwhelming problems. According to him, a child can be deeply distressed by a broken pencil and can become so emotional that it disturbs their functioning. To any adult, a broken pencil seems like no problem at all compared to our daily humongous challenges, but it can be debilitating to a child.
Over the years, I realised this goes beyond childhood emotions. As adults, different things upset us. If we had to ask people to list their problems, we would be amazed by how numerous, deep and diverse these challenges are. What may sound petty to one person may be enormous to another.
This 2-minute speech taught me never to trivialise anyone’s struggles. We have different capacities as humans, and what one person might shrug off easily could break another.
Therefore, let’s learn to empathise with others to understand their challenges, be careful not to judge their capacity, and show respect for their limit.