Learning

One of the most challenging aspects of parenting, I feel, is remaining detached enough to allow your child to have meaningful experiences so that learning can occur naturally and without forcing – I am not even sure the latter can be characterised as a learning experience. Sitting on the sidelines as my son chooses to fly through school work or leave tons of reading to the last day, is, for me, one of the hardest tests of patience. I do realise however that my continuous prompting will bring about a handicap that he will find hard to overturn later in life.

I can say without a doubt that some of my most meaningful learning experiences were derived from my personal experiences, that nothing I saw in or heard in others brought quite the intensity of learning that is needed for a long lasting in-print on my brain and heart.

I am sure that for many these thoughts sound simplistic and they go without saying. Here is my question for today: in the realm of work, as we are all interconnected, how do you stay out of someone’s learning (aka business) even when you feel and you can see that they are making a mistake, even when you remember walking the same path and can see the outcome so clearly that it is pushing you to say or do something. How do you marry your need and wish to help your colleague or the business and at the same time respect them enough to allow them to learn their own lessons? And how do you not disconnect in the process?