1 . For my daughter's 19th birthday, we bought her tickets to go and see Linkin Park, as they were playing in our city. We didn't really have the ________ but we knew how much this band meant to her.

The night before she was like a ________ at Christmas. Every so often she got up and came to ________ with us, because she couldn't ________ . On the night of the concert it was good to see her so ________ and excited, as she and her boyfriend set off.

Needless to say when they ________ after midnight, with T-shirts and lots of pictures of the band, ________ her telling about how fantastic they had been, we knew the money had been well ________ . This will be a memory she would never forget, and nor would we.

________ full of excitement from the night before, the following day they ________ to go shopping on the other side of the city. My husband and I laughed, loving the fact that she had not ________   that quality as she grew up.

Later that day they returned, with faces full of happiness and warmth. They presented my husband and me with a ________ each. On each present were the words "Because you are the ________ mum/dad in the world. "When we expressed our thanks and told her she didn't have to, we asked her why she had bought us gifts. Her answer was simply "Just because I love you."

This wasn't something ________ from our daughter; she had always given us gifts when she wanted to express her ________ , and each gift was always a welcome surprise. It could have been anything, it wouldn't have mattered, and it was the act itself and the feelings behind it.

Edward walked slowly past the school blacktop where his older brother, Leon, was playing basketball with his friends. Leon didn’t notice Edward until he turned to shoot the ball. Leon really loved basketball and was good at it. But Edward was another story.

Edward would beg to play with them but Leon’s friends complained a lot. For some reason, in that last game, Edward’s playing was worse than ever. He couldn’t do anything right. He was completely unable to keep possession of the ball. He missed even the easy rebounds. His dribbling was useless, and none of his throws were anywhere near the basket. Leon had to turn his brother away.

Edward was always a whiz at math. He was so advanced that he already knew how to solve long division problems before he was taught in school. Word problems, even the complicated ones with several steps, were no problem.

One day, Leon’s math teacher, pulled him aside. “ You need to do better, a lot better, or you’re not going to pass this class. There’s a big test coming up. ”

Leon’s heart sank. When he got home, he talked with Edward about it. The boys agreed that over the next two weeks they intended to spend an hour each day after school working on math problems and then an hour playing basketball.

“Here is a good one,” Edward said and pointed to a word problem. “ Why don’t you read it?”

Leon looked at the book for several seconds. “ I’m dizzy already!” He exclaimed.

“Do you know what the first step is?” asked Edward, “The first step is to stay cool and focused.” Edward talked Leon through the problem. “Think about what you need to find out. Don’t let the problem trick you.” Step by step, together they figured it out and got the right answer. Leon soon discovered that Edward was really good at helping him.

Soon it was time for basketball practice.

The morning of the math test came all too soon for Leon.

4 . After two years of online learning, I started middle school in person a few weeks ago. Since there was a big gap of online school, the middle school decided to give _________ lunches to all students.

Of course, you could _________ whether you wanted to take a meal from home or eat the school’s meal. I took something from _________, while some of my friends had _________ from school. No matter if you had lunch from home or school, everyone knew that the school’s juices that came with the lunch were _________.

Almost half the _________ school would just get the box of juice, including my friends and me. Today, like every day at lunch, my friends and I were _________ in line to get our juice. When we got to the front of the line and _________ the juices, the cashier said each juice is seventy-five cents.

We were _________ because we had gotten juices many times before this. __________ this I ran to my backpack to get some __________ I thought my friends would do the same but, they were just __________ there looking disappointed. I asked them what happened and they said none of them had any money.

As I looked at their faces, something in me __________. I felt like it was my __________ to get them the juices.

I immediately ran back to the lunch line and __________ the juices. When I returned to them with the juices, they were so happy. The feeling I felt there at that moment was better than any juice.

5 . When children do something wrong, parents expect an apology. Children often try to read their parents’ mind or butter up (奉承) their parents by saying, “I’m sorry”. Even though they did not do anything wrong, they will act in that way because they are scared to make their parents angry. Children always look timid (胆小的) because they have been anxious or nervous about being punished by parents.

When parents force them to apologize, they will lose the opportunity to think by themselves why they should apologize or what was wrong. So, how can we make them understand properly what was wrong?

If parents never give children a chance and say something like, “That’s not good” or “Say you’re sorry”, children cannot learn to reflect their behavior. So, the first thing that parents should do is listening to their children, asking questions such as what happened, why they did it. Once children have their parents’ attention and feel at ease, they can easily accept their parents’ words.

Children do not have enough skill to tell good or bad things, therefore, it is necessary for parents to teach them what was wrong. When parents explain what was wrong to children, short and simple words should be used as much as possible. Moreover, it would be more effective to tell children what kind of behavior makes parents feel a certain way. For example, it would be good to express mom’s feelings with something like “When you hit me, mommy will get hurt.” “When you call me stupid, I feel sad.”

In this way, children can understand that they hurt mom or they make her sad, therefore, they will become able to apologize naturally. That would be more understandable for children why their behavior was wrong than being scolded by parents something like “Hitting is not good!” “You cannot say stupid to someone else.”

Many people believe that children are too young to understand what parents say, however, children actually can understand a parents, feeling if parents use simple words and speak calmly. Parents should avoid speaking one-sidedly and always try to listen to children. Talking to each other would be the best way.

9 . My granddaughter entertains herself outside a closed shop. I have no idea what day it is—haven't known for 10 months.

I have moved to a different city to provide child care so my daughter can work.

Everything that I observe these days is from a toddler's(学步儿童的)eye view. I must be experiencing time and place in a way I haven't done since before I had memories. I am impressed by what matters to this child at any given moment.

My job is to wait and watch. Let her try things, soothe her when she falls down, keep her safe. Bring snacks, push her on a swing, but mostly let her be. Tell her the names of all the things she points to. Take her hand when she offers it because she is in slightly unfamiliar areas.

The two of us never hurry. This lifestyle change astonishes me every day. There are no play groups, no library story times, no swimming classes. No other children at all, except from a distance at the playground.

In March 2020, I lost my younger daughter. I can't say it was entirely unexpected. My younger daughter battled mental illness. She was only 27 years old. She put herself through long treatment programs and hours of therapy in pursuit of pain relief.

In March, it was as if the whole world went on leave with me. I had company for a few brief days after my younger daughter's death, and then I was alone. I had long phone conversations and watched my granddaughter play every day through a tablet. I signed up for the various things that might help my suffering.

It was the physical isolation(隔离)that was unbearable. I went 15 weeks without touching another person. Now a very small girl waits for me, watches me, soothes me, keeps me safe, and takes my hand.