This is one of those poems I would have loved to have had hanging beside my work area in the classroom where I could read it each day. Teachers and parents create settings where seeds are planted by children. The quality of the soil and the nurturing that is provided are important factors in the growth that occurs.
A child is like a tree.
Parents can help them grow
by preparing the soil
and nurturing them with love.
The trees go on growing
without anybody teaching them
how to grow.
The animals, the birds,
the whole existence,
needs no programming.
According to me,
the function of the parents
is not how to help the children grow —
they will grow without you.
Your function is to support, to nourish,
to help what is already growing.
Don’t give directions and don’t give ideals.
Don’t tell them what is right
and what is wrong:
let them find it by their own experience.
Only one thing you can do,
and that is share your own life.
Tell them that you have been conditioned
by your parents,
that you have lived within certain limits,
according to certain ideals,
and because of these limits and ideals
you have missed life completely,
and you…
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ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 