The Pot and the Bottle

Parents, keep this perspective in mind: you are not simply raising children; you are bringing them up to become wise, independent, self-confident, happy, and responsible adults. The first three years are the most formative but the learning period extends through age ten. When children are young, they absorb everything they see and hear like sponges. Think about it this way: their minds are wide open like a large pot of flowers. Every word you say becomes a seed planted in their minds. By the time children reach their preteens, their minds are more like the narrow opening of a bottle of soda. They do not receive and accept as much, or as easily, as they did the first ten years of their lives. Remember, you only get one shot at it!