As your child progresses through life, he will make mistakes. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to correct those mistakes, but you should use the right way to correct your child’s mistakes or else you risk harming his self-esteem (自尊) or causing problems in your relationship. Using the right way to offer your child constructive criticism (建设性的批评) encourages healthy development.

Parents should be willing to teach their child proper behaviors when offering constructive criticism, according to an Everyday Health article. If your child’s leaving food particles on dishes that he’s washed, teach him your way of properly washing dishes, as opposed to shouting at him or thinking he’s lazy. You can say, “I know you work hard at washing the dishes every night. But for the past few weeks I’ve noticed that there’s been some food stuck on some of the dishes. I used to do this when I was about your age, too. May I show you the way I’ve learned to wash the dishes?”

Your child will probably not reply to your criticism if it is given in an angry tone (语气). Talk to your child when you’re calm and clear-headed. It’s difficult enough to receive criticism because no one really wants to hear about their mistakes, says psychiatrist Harry Croft, so it’s important that you use a loving tone when correcting your child’s mistakes. If the matter doesn’t need to be dealt with immediately, give yourself as much time as you need — even go for a walk — before correcting your child’s behaviors.

Comparison is never a good way of offering constructive criticism. When you compare your child with someone else, you are creating feelings of inadequacy (缺乏信心) in your child, which can have long-lasting bad influences. Instead, focus on your child, his behaviors, and the things he might be able to improve. Instead of saying, “I wish you could be respectful to your grandparents like your brother,” try saying, “I really want you to work on having more respect for your grandparents.”

My dad, John, was a basketball fan. He played in college and even coached a local youth team for a few years. His love for the game was unbelievable, and some of my earliest memories are of us playing basketball in the nearby court. I’ve even seen old photos of him in his college days, a proud smile on his face as he held a basketball. But when it came to my own involvement in basketball, he was surprisingly positive that I should focus only on study. “Basketball won’t pay the bills,” he’d often say, a statement that always struck me as ironic (讽刺的) given how much he loved the sport.

I loved basketball too, and I was pretty good at it. My school coach, Coach Miller, saw potential in me and encouraged me to join the school team. He said I had a natural talent that could take me far if I trained hard. But my dad was against it. He believed that sports would distract me from my studies, and with the final exam around the corner, he didn’t want to take any chances. “Your future is in the classroom, not on the court,” he would insist, dashing my dreams of following in his athletic footsteps.

This tension between us reached a peak when my head teacher, Mrs. Williams, announced a school basketball tournament (联赛). It was a big deal; students from the whole city would come to watch. My friends were excited, and even some teachers were talking about it. However, I knew I couldn’t participate without my dad’s approval. It felt like an invisible chain holding me back, a conflict between my passion and his expectations.

Then something unexpected happened. Mrs. Williams called my dad for a meeting. I was nervous but also hopeful. Mrs. Williams was not just an educator; she was also a parent and understood the balance between academics and extracurricular activities. She had seen students succeed in both, and I hoped she could convince my dad.

After the meeting, my dad seemed to be in deep thought. He didn’t speak immediately, taking his time as if weighing his words carefully. Finally, he broke the silence, “Mrs. Williams made some good points about teamwork and discipline. Maybe it’s time to rethink my stance (立场) on you playing basketball.”

I was thrilled but also cautious. “So, can I play in the tournament?” I asked.

As I scanned the audience, I spotted my dad.

Summer was approaching, and Sarah and David had been eagerly looking forward to their visit to their grandpa’s countryside home. They had always enjoyed their time with their grandpa, who had a kind and generous heart. His wooden house was surrounded by beautiful greenery, and the fields of flowers that spread beyond the house were breathtaking. As they packed their bags for the trip, Sarah and David could hardly control their excitement. They talked about all the activities they could do with grandpa, like playing board games and taking long walks in the countryside.

Finally, the day arrived, and the family set out on their journey to grandpa’s house. The journey was a long and tiring one, but Sarah and David were too excited to feel tired. As they drew closer to their destination, they chatted even more excitedly about all the fun things they wanted to do with grandpa.

As they approached grandpa’s house, he came out to greet them with a huge smile on his face. Sarah and David were overjoyed to see him and hugged him tightly. It was great to be back in grandpa’s arms, and they felt the warmth and love from him.

However, shortly after they entered the house, they noticed that grandpa was not his usual self, looking pale and tired. Sarah and David felt a pang of sadness and worry in their hearts. Grandpa was not well, and they didn’t know how to make him feel better.

As they sat with grandpa, trying to make him feel comfortable, Sarah remembered that grandpa loved gardening. She suggested that they could create a garden for him, which would be a lovely surprise. David was excited with the idea and immediately set to work gathering the necessary tools. They wanted to do something special for their grandpa and hoped that this would cheer him up.

Sarah and David got to work in the backyard.

Brutus had everything in the world: good food, good toys, and good clothes. But the problem was that he had to share them all with his three other brothers, Mack, Jack and Robert.

Brutus had to share his favorite cookie box with Mack, who always finished the whole box before Brutus could take a bite. He also had to share his toys with his youngest brother Jack, who always ended up breaking them. Brutus also had the unfortunate privilege of being given his older brother Robert’s hand-me-downs of old clothes.

Brutus hated sharing and wished he had nobody to share his belongings with. “Why can’t I be the only child?” Brutus sighed as he stared at the stars. “I wish I had no stupid brothers,” Brutus demanded at one sparkling star.

To his surprise, the star suddenly twinkled and fell towards his direction. The star inched closer and closer to his bedroom window. He screamed and tried to wake his brothers up but it was too late. The star crashed inside their room, followed by an ear-splitting explosion.

The next day, Brutus woke up with a bad headache. He rushed to his brothers’ beds to ask them if they were okay but was quickly shocked to see that their beds had been empty. They were nowhere to be found.

Brutus had the fortune of spending the whole morning playing with his toys. He put on his brother’s brand new clothes and sneakers which fit him perfectly. As he was checking himself in the mirror, he suddenly realized that his wish had come true. His brothers were gone and he had the whole world to himself.

“I can get used to this,” he said to himself happily

When he felt hungry, his mother came back with a full box of cookies.

In this way, he spent five days as an only child before he felt the empty house was too quiet.

Gains and Losses

Most of us have experienced unforgettable moments in our lives. The moment that I will never forget happened in my family.

For the first fifteen years of my life, I was the only child in my family. I didn’t have any siblings. Fortunately, I’ve always had my parents who love and care about me a lot. They help solve any problem and they will do anything for me. What I’d never really thought about is that someday one of them could no longer be there for me.

One day found out that my mother was pregnant, which was big news in my family. Everyone was excited and happy, especially me. I imagined that I would have a baby brother, and I thought about playing and having fun with him. He would have a cute face and look at me with his naive eyes, begging me to play with him. I was expecting that day to come soon. I kept asking my mother questions about what my brother was going to look like, what he would eat and when he was going to be born.

Finally one morning, my mother went into labor and she and my father went to the hospital while I went to school. Of course, I thought everything would be fine. After all women have babies every day. Thus, I was hoping to see my baby brother as soon as I got to the hospital.

After school, when I went to the hospital, my brother had already been born. But my mother was still inside the operating room, while my father waited anxiously outside. After waiting for a long time, the doctor came out and told us that after my mother had given birth to my brother, they had trouble stopping the bleeding. He told us not to worry； my mother would be fine. Then, he went back into the operating room. Seconds later, lots of doctors and nurses rushed inside. My father and I were growing more anxious by the minute. Waiting was very painful for us, because we had finally realized that anything could happen and all we could do was wait.

At 7 P. M, my mother came out of surgery.

My mother survived that night.