FIRST TEACHERS

The first teachers we will ever have are our parents. They not only will be our first teachers, they will continue to teach us and influence us throughout life - even after they are gone. As a mother. I loved teaching my children and got great fulfillment from it, more than I ever imagined.
I learned so much from my mother, I made a little book called "Gifts From My Mother". I also learned valuable lessons from my father, who among other things, read to us every night. He read "Black Beauty," "1001 Arabian Nights," "Little Women", "Little Men" and others. What I remember most are the poems he read to us every night from The Childcraft books. I still remember many of them and say them in my head to help me fall asleep at night when I can't sleep.
One thing he taught me was how to deal with others as illustrated by the following experience: For several weeks my mother had forgotten to have a white shirt ironed and ready for Sunday morning. One Sunday morning we were all in the car, ready to go to church, waiting while my mother made the final preparations in the house for our Sunday dinner. When she joined us in the car, she looked over at my Dad and let out a gasp. There sat my dad behind the steering wheel with his suit coat on over his underwear and a tie around his bare neck.
My mother ran in the house, set a speed record for ironing a shirt, and never failed to have a white shirt, ironed and waiting in the closet afterward.
WHAT I LEARNED: It is more effective to teach someone through natural consequences when possible than to use yelling or nagging.