("Son, if you cannot hold my head high, at least do not make it bow down in shame.") A secondary school master says: I had it written outside the school that "Writing on the school building is prohibited." One day when I reached school, what do I see but that someone had ruthlessly ruined all the outer walls of the school by spraying graffiti and drawing filthy scribbles and patterns with spray paint. This was the first and a very unfortunate incident for my school. After going inside, I assigned some staff members to find out which child had done this. After checking the attendance record and questioning a few children, we found out about a boy who had committed this act. On the same day, I called the boy's father and said, "I would like to meet you, please come to the school tomorrow." The next day when the boy's father arrived, I told him the whole story. The father asked for his son to be called. After the boy arrived, he asked him for confirmation in a very gentle tone. When the boy confessed, the father, sitting right there, called a painter on the phone and spoke about restoring the walls to their original color. He apologized to me for his son's behavior, took permission to leave, stood up, affectionately kissed his son's head, and said to him in a soft voice: "Son, if you cannot hold my head high, at least do not do anything that makes my head bow down in shame," and saying this, he left. I saw that the boy had covered his face with both his hands; it was clearly visible that he was crying. I was deeply astonished at what an excellent psychological approach the boy's father had adopted. The impact that his short sentence had made could not have been achieved even through severe physical punishment. To see the boy's reaction, I asked him, "Child, your father is a very affectionate and respectable man, and he didn't even scold you severely, so why are you crying...?" The boy replied, "Sir, that is exactly why I am crying. I wish my father had beaten and punished me instead of saying such a thing." The boy apologized to me and left with permission. After that, I saw that the child showed outstanding performance in my school and topped every class. Someone rightly said that children should be counseled with love and affection, not with a stick or abusive language. Keep your children as good friends, otherwise, bad people will make friends with them and ruin them.



