Dear dads,
Don’t you find it amazing how sometimes the answers we’ve been searching for have been right in front of us all the time but we just were unaware? Oh! The power of awareness!
It was 4:00am Monday morning September 28, I was up early again.
I needed to start the day early with my morning routine.
Somedays, I just need to force myself into ‘Awake’ mode and this was one of those days.
The Connection Between Home And Office Activities
I was thinking about parenting intentionally and one of my thoughts was around the area of conflicts with my children.
And I am sure many fathers (of course mothers too) reading this also think about these conflicts.
Anyways, my mind drifted about aimlessly like a balloon in the wind.
Then, as if the balloon was pierced by a sharp object and burst, thoughts of work kept interfering until suddenly I saw the connection between what I do every day at work and what I do at home.
You see, I have spent over one decade dealing with customers and resolving customer issues.
I know the best way to deal with a customer is to deal with him from his on viewpoint.
It’s the easier, faster and even better route to having a win-win situation with any customer- even an irate customer.
The aim at the end of the day was to have a customer happy.
And this is exactly what we want as fathers. We want a happy home. And who are our customers?
Yes!
You guessed right! That is the connection, our family is our first and most important customer.
I would talk to you about the “big customer” later because it will take a library of books to complete that story.
For now, let’s focus on the’ little customers’, the little but complete humans we call children.
The ultimate customers in my life. They are king and so are always right……. or so they think.
My job is the make them see how and why they should always choose to do the right thing.
From Their Point Of View
It is a big job I have. In fact, I consider it an honor to raise a human and direct him in the right path so he is a worthy member of the society for the rest of his life.
What could be more important especially now we live in a world where the lines between the good and evil are fading away daily….
So how do we make them kings, or queens as in my own case (I have 2 daughters)?
I have learnt to see things from their own point of view.
I understand what they are saying or want.
This step is so important even if I would eventually disagree. It’s the point where I gain their trust.
If there is no success here, there is no need proceeding to the next. It’s when we fail this step and still proceed that conflicts arise.
So what happen after I gain their trust but I disagree with them.
I Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
Well… I want to agree with you but when I did it before, this happened to me……… and so I found there is another way ………which was …………and it worked. Don’t you think we should try it?
So we agreed on a way forward together. It was our solution, our shared success, not dad’s plan.
I know it can be a challenge but at work I never shouted at my customers even though there were times I wanted to scream at them for asking really dumb questions.
Also Read: How Dads Can Be More Involved In Child’s Academics This Term
Also, I could not. I often repeated myself over and over again being more patient each time I had to explain the same point.
The customers always listened to my solutions because I had gained their trust, they knew I was there to help. If we can be patient at work, we can also be at home.
So the next time you have conflicts with your kids remember the customer is king.
It is an honor to be a dad and it is a journey.
For today, be a better dad than you were yesterday.
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