It's the little things

I gave my 10-yr old grand daughter a watch for her ninth birthday last year.  I knew she wanted a watch, so we went to a store so she could pick it out herself.  She wore it everyday, everywhere, even slept with it on her wrist.

Monday evening she brought me her watch, showing me that the "buckle tongue" (I had to look up the name of the part) had accidentally broken off the band when she was taking it off at her gymnastics class.  Understandably, students are not allowed to wear jewelry during the class.  She asked if I could "fix it" so she could continue wearing her watch.  Her body language confirmed she was very upset about her watch.  I took a look at it and told her I would give it a try.  Because she knew I did beading and various forms of making jewelry, she was hopeful I could fix her watch.

It's been a busy week here, so yesterday I finally tackled fixing her watchband.  After a few unsuccessful attempts, I figured out what would ultimately be necessary to fix it.  I decided to wait until she got home from school so we could talk about how she takes her watch off and puts it back on.  She showed me how she did that.  Then I told her about the only way I could fix the watchband and how it would require that she be more careful when she took it off and put it back on, or it might break again.  She agreed that she would be more careful.  She watched as I fixed the watchband and handed it back to her.  With a big smile of relief, she quickly put it back on her wrist.  At that precise moment, the expression on her face said it all.  Not only was she happy that her watchband was fixed, somewhere deep inside her feelings were validated, too.

I am valued

I believe it's often the little things that really mean something (whether good or bad), that stick with us all of our lives. We never know what those things will look like or when they might occur.  Since there is no notice given when these things are heading our way, it's wise to pay close attention to others when they ask for our help, especially children.  This means purposefully looking in their eyes, listening to their words and making an effort to understand how they are feeling about their request.  When we get really good at doing this, we may then realize that their request is our most privileged opportunity to show them that we care about what is important to "them."  Even more importantly, it tells them that we value how they feel.  Anything less than that sends an irrevokable message that they are of NO VALUE, which will haunt them all of their lives.  

Now I don't know about you, but that's not the message I want to give to anyone I care for.