An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year -old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) perched (栖息) on their window.

The father asked his son, “what is this?” The son replied, “It is a crow.”

After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Father , I have just now told you, it is a crow!”

After a little while, the old father again asked his son for the third time, “What is this?”

At this time some expression of irritation (恼怒) was felt in the son’s tone when he said to his father with a rebuff (生硬回绝) . “It’s a crow , a crow.” A little while later, the father again asked his son the fourth time, “ What is this?”

This time, the son shouted at his father, “ Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?’

A little while later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered (发皱的) diary, which he had maintained since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I did not at all feel annoyed but I rather felt love for my innocent son.

After reading the diary,

Feeling ashamed , the son got down on his knees before his father.

“Hurry up you guys, or you will be late for school!” called Mom. We went downstairs and had a quick breakfast. I was eating my favorite — very sweet porridge, and Sara was. having eggs. When I rose to have my bowl washed, Mom whispered, “You know you need to be cautious today when you’re walking Sara to school. It’s your job to assure (保证) me she gets there all right.” Then she cast me. a very serious look. I thought to myself, wondering why Mom was making such a big deal out of this. It was Sara’s first day of Kindergarten, but I could manage it. I wish Mom would treat me like an adult.

Then Sara ran out of the house, and I went behind her, skipping down the front walkway to the sidewalk. Along the way, I could feel Mom’s gaze on us.

I grabbed Sara’s hand. “Are you eager and excited for your first day of school?” I asked, trying to sound like a grown-up. Sara smiled and nodded her head yes. Meanwhile, my mom was staring at us through the window. “When will she treat me like an adult?” I thought. “I will show you the way.” I said. I felt proud to be the elder sister. We walked past beautiful gardens and big, leafy trees. Suddenly, I heard a growl (低吼) and saw a dog walking towards us. He was big and fierce looking with long sharp teeth. “GRRRR!!!” the dog barked. I didn’t see its owner or anyone who could help us. My hand became sweaty and Sara stopped walking. “I’m scared, Julie,” she said. I didn’t want her to be scared. I wanted to appear brave. “Everything will be okay,” I said.

“GRRRR!!!” The dog stepped closer and we could see it was the size of a small horse — with red eyes and sharp teeth.

6 . A Great Way to Teach Children to Take Responsibility

As parents, one of the most important things to teach children to take responsibility is to include chores as a part of their daily routine. In order to make a family function smoothly, every member must contribute. Teaching your children to take responsibility at an early age makes it easier for them to shoulder greater responsibilities as they grow older.

    1     If your children leave their crayons lying on the table after drawing, picking up those crayons is not a chore. It is cleaning up a mess they have created.     2    

    3    . For example, if it is to feed the dog every day, make   sure   the   children understand that if they fail in their responsibility, the dog will go hungry.

Make rewards and punishments a part of the lesson. Together decide whether they will be rewarded or not.     4     Some parents make their reward a monetary payment, while others choose to reward with certain privileges, such as extra television viewing time.

Children need to be taught that there are punishments for their actions in case of not doing their assigned chores. Decide and agree from the start what the punishment will be.

Teaching your children the importance of contributing to the family is of great importance.     5     By taking this step, you have done a wonderful thing for your children by providing them with life skills they can take with them into society.

7 . A weak old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and a four-year old grandson. The old man’s hands _______and his eyesight was poor. The family ate together at table, but the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands made eating rather_______ Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, often _______ spilled (泼洒) on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became _______ at the mess (脏乱). “We must do_______about grandfather,” said the son. I’ve had enough of his spilled milk and food on the floor. So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family had their dinner at the dinner table _______. Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a _______ bowl. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather’s _______, he had a tear in his eye. Still, the couple always blamed him when he_______a spoon or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in________

One evening before supper, the father ________his son playing with small wood pieces. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?” The boy ________, “Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up.” The words so ________ the couple that they were speechless. Then tears started to ________ down their cheeks. Though no word was ________, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took grandfather’s hand and led him back to the family dinner table gently. From then on, the grandfather ate every meal with the family.

8 . Today's world is not an easy adjustment for young adults. Key skill set for success is persistence (毅力), a characteristic that researchers say is heavily influenced by fathers. Researchers from Brigham Young University discovered that fathers are in a unique position to help their adolescent children learn persistence.

BYU professors Laura Padilla-Walker and Randal Day arrived at these findings after following 325 American families over several years. And over time，the persistence gained through fathers led to higher achievement in school.

"There are relatively few studies that stress the unique role of fathers，"Padilla-Walker said. "This research also helps to prove that characteristics such as persistence-which can be taught-are key to a child's life success.”

Researchers determined that dads need to practice an "authoritative" parenting style. Authoritative parenting is not authoritarian:rigid，demanding or controlling. Rather，an authoritative parenting style includes some of the following characteristics:children feel warmth and love from their father；responsibility and the reasons behind rules are stressed children are given an appropriate level of autonomy(自主权).

In the study，about 52 percent of the dads exhibited above-average levels of authoritative parenting. A key finding is that over time，children raised by an authoritative father were significantly more likely to develop persistence，which leads to better outcomes in school.

This particular study examined 11 to 14-year-olds living in two-parent homes. Yet the researchers suggest that single parents still may play a role in teaching the benefits of persistence，which is an avenue of future research.