The word for today is :- ENCOURAGEMENT.

[Kitosdad]

EN-COU-RAGE-MENT, a word seldom seen in print, but an action that we are all in desperate need of so very often in our lives.

From our very first days, when our parents fed us our first solids, to our dotage, when the same encouragement will probably also be meted out to us.

Encouragement is akin to feeding food to plants in your garden. It encourages growth, and results in beautiful blooms, and so it is with our children. Encouragement is an essential ingredient in their development, in both their physical and mental progress.

Children desperately require our encouragement to help in their development, but what they don't need is exaggerated praise. ( Which is another animal all together. )

Realistically not everyone can be a genius, but how much improvement can be achieved with a little regular, honestly applied, encouragement.

Everyone basks in a little encouragement. How nice to be told that, "You are doing a good job there." How it lifts your spirits without inflating your ego, and oh, how we all need it at times in our workaday lives.

My corner shopkeeper, an Afghan, always greets my visits with a dazzling smile, and a cheery comment. All because I said that he had made such an improvement to the shop that he had taken over from the previous owner.

He really had, and I had taken the time to notice every improvement HE had made. He was delighted at the attention I had paid to HIS work, not the trades-mens.

They are experts, he is a trier, and his work was done with effort and application. It was worthy of encouragement, and he adds little touches almost every week now whenever he has time, because, like most Afghans, he is a very busy man.

Similar to plant food, encouragement needs to be applied, little and often, lest it results in overgrowth and eventual weakness.

Kitosdad.
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