Importance of Teaching Children Patience

“Kids, hurry up!!! What is taking you so long to wear your clothes?! You already spent half an hour wearing your uniform. FASTER!!! YOU'RE GETTING LATE!!!” 

This is me almost every day. Every. Single. Day. If you could hear this shouting statement of mine, your ears would probably hurt.

Ever since I lived here in the metro, my life has been fast paced. It seems there was no room to just chill, be quiet, peaceful, have a coffee and at least and just enjoy the moment. Now that I have kids, my temper has been shorter and it feels like, I would snap with the minutest things that my kids would make.

In this modern world where everything is within the reach of our hands, answers from Google in 5 seconds, groceries delivered on our doorstep, we tend to forget to WAIT. Imagine a world full of short tempered people, what do you think will happen?

A few weeks ago, my daughter’s therapist told me that my daughter tends to be impulsive. She cannot wait for her turn when she is in groups and tends to get frustrated just because things don’t go her way.

It hit me really hard. I believe what I am at home is being adapted by my children. I believe in the saying that it all starts at home. Honestly, I feel so sorry for my kids. When I think I am supposed to hone them into a better person, yet here I am trying to destroy them.

But it is not too late. I have to think ways on how to fix things and slowly, I am trying to be mindful of my words and actions. You know, it is really hard to be a parent because all the weight in the world is on us and it is either we make or break our children. That is why our actions, emotions and words are very crucial as it has a strong impact on our children.

Why do you think there is an importance of patience in rearing our children?

Too many things that we adults have to reflect on our actions as well and slowly we have to be mindful of our actions. Let me first enumerate some of the things we adults need to reflect on. This might be a long list, but these are just some of it:

• Cashier queue. Many people cut lines and go straight to the cashier. 
• Traffic. Drivers ignoring traffic rules just because drivers are in a hurry. 
• Food delivery. When the delivery guys gets 10 minute delay on the scheduled delivery, they demand for vouchers or cancel the delivery. Too much hassle for food cravings right?
• Slow Internet Connection. Saw the effects on my kids. They lose patience over a loading YouTube video.
• Phone not responding properly, makes you want to throw it out of the window. 
• People taking too long in the public restroom. 

I could go on with my list, but these are just some of them. Children simply are a reflection of our action so when we do this, chances are, the kids will imitate us. Children have innate short attention span, but we can teach them patience. Why do you think it is important for children to have patience.

• Inner peace. It provides them clarity of mind because they are the ones in control of their emotions and they are not in a rush into everything they do.
• Better decision making skills; make rational choices. When they have inner peace, they maintain a focus mind this having to make rational decisions. They don't simply just jump into something that is unexplainable in the long run just because they wanted easy and immediate results. 
• Kindness to others. When you have inner peace, you also develop sympathy. You just don't focus on the bad rather than good in people. 
• Focus. When you have inner peace, you also aim to focus on your long term goals in life. 
• Persistence. Patient people don't just quit when they are being put to a test. They develop persistence which will lead them to achieve their goals in life.

These are just some benefits, why patience needs to be taught in children. As adults, it is important to train them early on and our responsibility. Who else is going to teach and train them but we?

If you think this is helpful and will benefit others, please share.