Times of Eswatini

Value of making mistakes

- Mlungisi Calvin Ndlovu

Sir,

I have been thinking about the power of making a mistake, the power it has in one’s life. It nurtures growth and maturity on an individual.

That is why it is said that we learn while we grow.

Most parents are good at parenting just because of the mistakes they once did when growing up or the mistakes they experience­d from their own parents when they were being brought up.

I salute parents who are not over-protective over their children.

The kind of parents who let their children experience life for themselves but also be there to guide and support them when in trouble.

Respect

I respect parents who will buy their child a bicycle just to teach them how it feels to fall off it and be hurt. A parent who will teach them to pick themselves up again after falling and enjoy the pleasure of being able to ride a bicycle.

Through that experience they will know and value each and every ride as they learnt the hard way, from the pain they felt when falling. We either learn from other people’s mistakes or from our own, but we learn the best from our own mistakes.

Through our own mistakes we are able to help the next person from not doing the same mistakes that we once did.

Maturity

It takes real maturity to see and accept a mistake and then committing to never to do that mistake ever again. You learn a lesson of understand­ing when someone else commits the same mistake you once did towards you. You find it in your heart to forgive them.

You give them a second chance because you know exactly how it feels like not to be forgiven.

You graduate from firsthand experience through being given the platform to make all your mistakes and correct them.

I know it is hard and painful but it yields the best results as you earn the prize of becoming a better person the next day.

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