TMOD theme titled “Raising a child”

RAISING A CHILD

Should you let your child watch cartoons or is that a toxic pastime that slowly bakes their brain dead? Should you spank them sometimes or is any hitting a hindrance to their balanced growth? Should you let them eat chocolates or are green vegetables the only diet that will make them Einstein? If I am not wrong, you were judging yourself with every activity I just mentioned – wondering if you are doing parenting right or not. If that scared you, let me put you at ease. None of it matters, not in the “it’s all in the destiny” sense but more in “it’s more complicated than that” sense. The thing is you can find studies that support spanking and others that don’t. There is some research that tells chocolate is bad and others that suggest little sweet treats are good for us. There is no full proof method to raise a child into a successful being. What you grow up into is fashioned by a lot of things other than whether you ate chocolate as a child or not. If you doubt that, just look around you in this room. There are about 20 of us here today and we all have had some similar elements growing up and others mostly different. Yet we have all turned out into fine individuals – engineers, MBAs even doctors.  The problem is researchers think that raising a child is like baking a cake. There is a perfect technique and they are trying to find it. Too sad raising a child is more like starting a business – everyone’s situation is different and what’s good for you isn’t good for me. No wonder people call their business like a baby although here I am calling your baby your business. The point is there is no fix approach.

Thankfully Toastmasters has one. Let me spell that out for you. Every Toastmasters meeting is divided into three parts. The first part is the prepared speech section where members prepare a speech in advance, get it mentored and deliver the same. The second part is the impromptu session where anyone including the guest can participate. And the third part is the most important evaluation session where we will all learn how to improve ourselves. Let me now invite the General Evaluator to explain his role. Please help me welcome TM Name with a big round of applause.

Once the General Evaluator has explained his role, start the prepared speech section. After this session, continue with the theme as under.

Naturally one question that arises is “Should I as a parent sit back and relax thinking Que Sera Sera – whatever happens happens and I don’t have anything to do with it.” Well thankfully it’s not that everything’s out of your control. Parents do naturally have some impact on their kids. Imagine a household in which kids watch their parents read books every day. Do you think that will motivate the kids to read as well? Of course. Conversely imagine a household where the kids never watch their parents read books – a child will have to be  lucky to find external motivation that inspires them to read, perhaps a teacher or a friend. Think about parents who play musical instruments. Naturally when kids see guitars and piano around them, odds are they would be inspired too. Let me put it in simple words – monkey see monkey do. And before you get offended, am not calling your child a monkey. I am just reminding you that his ancestors were monkeys and therefore it’s natural he picked up something form them

It’s time now for the most exciting and fun session in a Toastmasters meeting. Please welcome with a big round of applause our Table Topic Master TM Name.

Once the table topic session is over, continue with the theme as under.

Now what I just said may motivate you to go and start reading a book in front of your kids at home from today. Or perhaps eat healthy. Here’s the problem with this – habits are extremely internal and you can’t one day just start reading or playing football. It’s like the time we say “I will start going to gym from today.” Sure the energy lasts a couple of days but then it disappears along with our money. What I am trying to say is that it’s not how you pretend to be but rather how you naturally are as an individual that has a lot to do with how your child is going to be.

With that it’s time to start the final session of the meeting, the evaluation session. Let’s welcome the GE for the day TM Name.

Once the Evaluation session is over, conclude the theme as under.

Barbara Johnson has said “To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.” The idea is spend some quality time with your kids and things should be alright. And if you are still worried about doing it perfectly, remember, you can always do that with a cake. 

It’s time now for awards.