Lost Parent Diary

As an educator, I have noticed a curious phenomenon.

I often fully understand an idea only after I’ve taught it a few times. For example, as an EFL teacher, I often field questions about English grammar, word order, spelling, etc. Because I learned English as my native language, I do not have the strict grammatical knowledge a typical non-native teacher would have; in other words, I speak English intuitively, not formulaically.

When asked a question, I find out what “sounds right” and then work my way backwards to create my own rule. Even though I don’t always come up with a full-proof grammar rule, the exercise is useful in helping me gain a much better understanding of something that I previously felt I completely understood.

Perhaps most moving about this whole exercise is that it pushes me out of a comfort zone I naturally fall into where I feel I understand everything. There’s nothing like one of these to make you realize how little you really know. After all, if you can’t explain it, how well do you really know it?

In the hopes to replicate this success with parenting, I would like to “teach” you all how to be good parents. That way, I can more fully understand what really good parenting is and improve not only the lives of my readers, but also my own.

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