#WORLDCLASS Lou Altman | Page 21

M I C H A E L B . A S I M O R My son is in 1st grade. He just turned 7. Every morning, started thinking, oh no, he is getting bullied. I asked I greet him with a good morning hug, kiss and ask him him what he did about it? What he shared with me how he is doing. He answer is consistent almost every blew me away. He turned to the older boy, and said, morning. He will say, “I am outstanding!” Everyday “Why are you doing that? You are better than this.” I afterschool, when I first see him, I ask him how is day said, “Wow!” “What did the older boy do?” The older was and most of the time, his answer was the same. boy looked at my son and said, “Nobody has ever said He will say, “It was outstanding!” I remember the first that to me before.” The older boy left him alone the few times I heard this answer, I was happy and touched rest of the morning and for the last two weeks, has inside. When I was 7, I did not feel outstanding every been very nice to him. morning or afterschool. After my son had shared this with me, I stood up with This conversation with him and I have been going tears in my eyes and my heart soared. I picked him on for about two years now. Almost every morning up, hugged him and told him how much I loved and and afterschool, his answer was outstanding. To be was proud of him. My son then shared with me the honest, I started wondering if he is giving me a line of following. “Sometimes, kids don’t always make the best BS. I started thinking he can’t be outstanding almost decisions because of what they are feeling,” I said, “Very every day. Everybody wakes up on the wrong side true.” “Does that also include you at times?” He said, of the bed. Everybody has a lousy day. “Yes.” I said, “Me too.” “Me too.” I took away the follow- As I mentioned earlier, a couple of weeks ago, my son came from school. My wife said to him, “Are you going to tell you dad about your day today?” My first thought was concern. I wonder what happened at school? Did he get into trouble? So I got down on my knees and said, “Tell me about your day?” He begins to explain about his time in morning care. Morning care is a place at his school where parents drop off their kids before going into work. The lady that runs morning care watches them and makes sure they get to school on time. That day, he was coloring on a piece of paper, and one of the older kids was giving him a hard time and drawing all over his paper. I immediately ing lessons from this experience. Lessons because I have been guilty of these mistakes. Our children are always listening and learning from us. We owe it to them to step up and always be an example of possibility and not a warning how to live. Kids will do things that we don’t want them to do and say things we don’t want them to say. Instead of punishing them, yelling at them, or losing control of our emotions, what if we remind them that they are better than the way they are acting? Trust that they know better and are just caught up in the moment. It is not like we have similar experiences in our lives, right? I leave you with this. Stay in your heart and not in your head. Stay in the moment and breathe. Lead your children by example and trust your children will follow your lead. We all want our kids to live a better life than we have lived! The best way for this to happen is to show up at your best everyday! All the best, love and be the change you want to see in the world