From the tender age of five, my son always shown strong passion for fixing things, especially anything related to light and electronics. Like bulbs switches, small gadgets, once he hears that something is not working properly, he jumped at it and he's eager to dismantle it. There's this bag that I condemned because of how worn out it looks, my son sees that bag like a treasure chest, because that's where he keeps his tools.
As parents, the safety of our children should be our major concern, right? So there were times we have to give him serious warnings to stay away from certain gadgets we felt were too risky for him to handle.
We had no problem with his passion. Not at all, but there was this challenge we had with him, he has this habit of not finishing what he started, and leaving his tools scattered all over the house. Everywhere you looked, you would see screwdrivers, pliers, wires, bulbs, batteries, hmmmmm, sometimes it feels overwhelming.
One day, out of frustration from constantly reminding him to arrange his tools properly, I made a decision I deeply regretted later. I gathered all his tools and swept them into the trash. That was a biggest mistake I have ever made as a mother. As my son came back from school and wanted to use his tools, I told him I had trashed them. Oh my God! My son cried as if he has just lost either I or his father to death. That cry and the pain in his eyes moved me to tears, in that moment, I realised that I had thrown away more than tools, I had hurt something precious in him.
I held him to myself and cried bitterly with him. I apologized to him and promised never to do such a thing again. But I begged him to help me keep to that promise by learning to keep his tools in the right place. I made sure I replaced some of the tools I had thrown away.
My husband and I decided to nurture his passion. We enrolled him in a technical school, and today he is 13 years old, he is doing very well. His master is found of him and often speaks highly of his determination and eagerness to learn. His master approached us to ask for permission to always take him along for outside jobs. According to him, our son is hardworking, observant, and eager to learn, and he believes that by exposing him to real life fieldwork will help him gain more practical experience. Hearing that made us proud, it shows that his dedication is being noticed outside. So we gave him our consent. Believing that the opportunity will give him a brighter future in electronics.
Our son is always excited to improve himself. Sometimes he even tells us, "Mummy, Daddy, instead of buying this or that for me, please give me the money to go to the electronic market and buy some tools."
Though there are times when his tools still finds their way around the house, he is becoming more organised and Responsible. I can see great changes in him. Watching him grow in his passion and watching his siblings, reminds me that children come with unique gifts. And our role as parents is to guide, nurture, support and help them flourish in their passion instead of to suppress them.
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