The most satisfying time of my teaching career till this date has been when I taught Play School kids. I was amazed at the amount of energy the little kids had. But sometimes, things used to be different.

One mother complained that her child did not eat the food that was sent to school. She used to bring the tiffin home just the way her mother had packed. This girl was a chatterbox. She liked to talk a lot, not only with other children but with teachers too. She was a good singer. And we teachers used to have nice time listening to her chatter and songs.  But not eating food was one problem that I could not tackle for a long time. I tried cajoling her but to no avail. How could a three year old hyperactive child be made to eat? Giving lecture is of no use. Even I would not like to hear from anyone about the importance of food. So how could I expect that a little kid would listen to me on that account? I was really upset, not knowing what to do.  In a bit of anger, I told her "I know you will not eat food. I am sure you won't." Guess what! She took it as a challenge, proclaimed loudly that she will eat food, went to her place and finished eating. After that she came to my table and showed the empty tiffin box. I was really happy to see a broad smile on her face, a smile of victory. After all, she proved the teacher wrong. I just hugged her.  She put her tiffin box in the bag and then came to my table and continued chatting.

Frankly speaking, I had not expected that my negative response would work in such a positive manner. But then I remembered a point which I had read about children. If you want to make them do something just tell them not to do it. They will be tempted to do the same. Sometimes, two negatives do make one positive. But again, please do remember that each child is different. What worked with this child may not work with yours. Our problem is that we don't have the patience or time to think what best suits a child. I heard one parent say "My child throws tantrums. Yesterday, things went out of control and I hit him for the first time." Does hitting help? May be, for some children it would help but there are others for whom it would work in reverse. They can throw more tantrums. It's the same case with food. You can't and shouldn't force a child to eat when that child doesn't want to. A grown up child and a little kid have to be dealt in different manners. And please don't expect a three year old child to understand your lecture about the importance of food.