“Rain” by Edward Thomas Essay

On the brink of joining World War I, the United Kingdom set up a draft system to recruit young men into the military. This system set limits on sex, physical disabilities, marital status, and of course, age. Although Edward Thomas fell outside of these restrictions, therefore saving him from ever having to dress in uniform, a patriotic Thomas still wanted to serve his country, so he enlisted. However, before fighting his battles in Europe, Thomas wrote the famous poem, â€Å"Rain,† in which he discusses the pains of death and war. Thomas creates a speaker with whom he can relate and uses this speaker to represent the possible scenarios and feelings that he may face in any future warlike situations. In â€Å"Rain,† Thomas’ diction, organization, and punctuation all paint intense, disturbing images, which in turn convey the poem’s main theme of war and death. Thomas’ diction plays an essential role in reaffirming the poem’s main theme. This is evident in the first lines of the poem when he writes, â€Å"Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain / On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me / Remembering again that I shall die† (1-3). The word â€Å"rain† is repeated three times in the first line, initially alone, then with the preceding adjectives â€Å"midnight† and â€Å"wild.† All of these words describe the Thomas’ surroundings and symbolize his loneliness. The first â€Å"rain† stands alone with no adjective, just as Thomas is alone, while the second and third â€Å"rain† are described by midnight and wild, which describe his surroundings and state of mind. These ideas become more obvious in the second line, as Thomas uses the word â€Å"solitude,† reiterating his aloneness. In terms of diction, Thomas additionally incorporates several similes into his poem. In line 13, he writes, â€Å"Like a cold water among broken reeds,† referring back to a supposed loved one hopefully not being â€Å"helpless among the living and the dead† (12). This simile paints an extremely morose picture, further illustrating Thomas’ inner feelings and pain. The adjectives cold and broken in this simile particularly emphasize these feelings. Another simile is found in lines 15 and 16 where Thomas writes, â€Å"Like me who have no love which this wild rain / Has not dissolved except the love of death.† Now, Thomas is saying that he lacks love because the rain has melted away whatever love he had. Now, he is only left with love  for death because he feels so tortured in his situation in the cold, â€Å"wild rain† (15). Essentially, this poem can be divided into two parts; the first of which, Thomas is writing in first person, sharing his inner feelings about himself; the second part in which he still discusses his inner feelings, however this time, those feelings are about others, not himself. These parts divide at the end of line 7, where a colon clearly marks the spot. Ultimately, the Thomas is frightened by death, and perhaps is envious of those who have died. He wants to free himself of the torture he suffers waiting for his death and just wants to get death over with, as he says, â€Å"Blessed are the dead that rain rains upon† (7). Here, the dead are blessed because they no longer have to endure the angst and torment of wondering when death will happen. Death is not an option; there is merely a matter of time before it does happen, but it is sure to happen in this war. Notice the â€Å"rain† only â€Å"rains† upon the dead – it does not torrent or downpour, thus, i t paints a more peaceful image. These dead are deservingly being cleansed and washed of all bad that has happened to them as the rain patters serenely on their lifeless bodies. In the second part of this poem, Thomas is thinking about his loved ones and hoping that they are not listening to the rain as he is – awaiting death â€Å"or thus in sympathy† (11). His loved ones are most likely his fellow comrades, friends, and family. He hopes that none of his comrades are lying in the alone in this rain, experiencing a painful death, and he hopes that his friends and family are not lying awake in their beds worrying about him. And should his comrades be dying on the battle field, he further hopes that they are not â€Å"helpless among the living and the dead† (12). The speaker envisions dead bodies all around him – â€Å"Myriads of broken reeds all still and stiff† (14), and he feels very alone, as he repeats the word â€Å"solitude† twice in lines 2 and 6 and â€Å"solitary† in line 10. He does not want his loved ones to feel this same way. In the last two lines of the poem, Thomas steers away from his thoughts about his loved ones, as he creates a more personal tone than the preceding lines  in the second part. In these final two lines, Thomas discusses how he may have to disappoint his love in order to do â€Å"what is perfect† (17). In this sense, â€Å"what is perfect,† may actually mean what is right or what his heart tells him – enlist in the war and fight for his country. Here, the tempest, or rain, is telling him not to disappoint himself and do what he feels in his heart. Throughout the entire poem, Thomas has struggled with these images of war – being in the darkness, alone – but in the end, he knows his fate will be death. It is just a matter of how he chooses his death, whether it is in battle or growing old at home with his family and friends, so long as he doesn’t disappoint himself. Thomas’ ideas about death are reinforced by the poem’s punctuation and caesura. This poem is comprised only of two sentences, the first ending at the end of line 6. Line 7 serves as a transition line into the next sentence, which begins at line 8. All of the poem’s caesura can be found at the end of these sentences. In all other lines, except 6 (the end of the first sentence), 7 (line ends with a colon), and 18 (the end of the second sentence and poem), enjambment occurs. Thomas utilizes this sentence structure as a metaphor for his feelings, which he expresses throughout the poem. Effectively, the speaker’s thoughts are scattered, but continuous – reflecting on his current physical situation in the rain storm, dreaming about his loved ones, and eventually facing his fears of death – just like the sentences in this poem. These sentences are somewhat run-ons, symbolizing the continuous thoughts of Thomas, but eventually, and sadly, Thomas†™ life must end, just like the poem. Death is, unfortunately, an occurrence that we must all ultimately face. Since Thomas wrote this poem before he joined the war effort, he did not actually know what it was like to fight in battle. However, through this poem he was able to articulate his thoughts and anticipate the feelings of being a soldier in war. The imagery that Thomas is able to create through his word choice and punctuation is dark and distressing, yet very real. Thomas’ use of similes further exaggerates his inner feelings as a soldier. The only love that Thomas possesses by the end of the poem is â€Å"the love of death† (16). How unbearable it must feel to be so desperate that you await  death to put you out of your misery. Work Cited: Thomas, Edward. â€Å"Rain.† The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Comp. Margaret Ferguson, Jon Stallworthy, and Mary Jo Salter. 5th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2005. 1255.

Disneyland Paris Marketing Strategy Essay

In this essay, the point of interest will be the market research disaster of Walt Disney Company after they opened a Disney park in Europe. The Walt Disney Company had experienced a big failure in the theme park business. Having successfully opened parks in the US and Asia, the idea to open one in Europe came natural. The city of Paris was chosen to host the new theme park. That was the first of many decisions that led to a very unsuccessful opening of EuroDisney. Many factors contributed to EuroDisney’s ‘unhealthy’ performance during its first few year of activity and many of these factors could have been avoided if the proper research would have been done. The first problem with EuroDisney was that Paris was the town chosen to be this park’s home. Paris was the perfect city to build the famous park in firstly because of the demography but the wrong one when it comes to its customs and culture. There were many marketing and operational errors that echoed into the park’s unsuccessful opening. For example, EuroDisney’s advertising had emphasized Disney’s image as an alluring bit of Americana culture rather than thinking of the French customers. EuroDisney’s image-marketing did not explain to Europeans what the theme park was or what attractions it had to offer the European consumer. Advertising was so focused on the size of the park and the glamour behind it, that this poor marketing strategy hurt overall business. 1 The Walt Disney Company had taken a golden step towards Japan and driven by their first success on Asian territory considered it logical to be the same in Europe. The first years in Europe have proved the contrary. A combination of factors contributed to a disastrous start in Paris. The biggest factor contributing to the poor performance was the failing cultural adaptation. Disney was build and promoted in Europe as a piece of wonderful America. Everything about the park was American and cultural differences between America and Europe were completely neglected. This resulted not only in negative experiences by customers itself, but also in a heavy load of criticism from the intellectual segment of France, which traditionally didn’t have good relations with ‘Americanism’. 2 Besides the cultural problems, a lot of secondary factors contributed to the big failure. We must think of customers’ pockets. The price to enter the park and especially staying at the hotels, was too high in the European mindset and customers weren’t willing to spend this amount of money. As we have already explained, the French culture was not the perfect one to absorb the specific American product, as one other reason is that the English language is still unpopular in France and the American style isn’t much appreciated; in this case the cultural adaptation went wrong in almost every aspect. The EuroDisney management team seems to have been poorly informed or have done superficial research on the European culture and market. 1 â€Å"The Cultural Barbarism of EuroDisney.† 123HelpMe.com. 06 Jan 2013 http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=167709 2 Ibidem When Disney opened EuroDisney in Paris, the park was a symbol of American culture. The cultural adaptation that was necessary to make the park a success didn’t cross the mind of the Disney team. The problems Disney encountered when entering Europe with Disneyland were not only because of the behavior of the French, it was the neglecting of (European) culture in general that made EuroDisney a disaster. So, concluding all the arguments: the main methodological mistake made was the choosing of the place of their park. The first and most striking mistake was not France or any specific country, but the problem was adapting to culture in general. EuroDisney’s entry strategy should have been used keeping in mind the customer and the end user of the product, in this case the ordinary Frenchman. The entry strategy should have taken into consideration all cultural aspects of their venture The strategy should be conceived after a thorough research conducted to help Disney enter the European market. The answer to how the Walt Disney Company should market the destination to potential customers & other stakeholders is partially answered with the quote below: As a whole, a move by any company to any foreign market should not be made without an extensive, in-depth study based on exhaustive research into every applicable aspect of the economy, laws, culture, climate, interests, customs, life-style habits, geography, and work habits. This integration of differing management practices is typical with any company doing business abroad. However, a great deal of time, patience, understanding, education, and willingness to accept and/or compromise are needed from all parties involved in order to make this integration successful. 3 A new EuroDisney park would not fit in the European picture for the same reasons we discussed above: the cultural environment, language, vacation and entertainment rituals, etc. In any case, the American style and culture shown in ‘Disney’ should be narrowed down as much as possible to adapt to any of the European countries in order for it to be a success. 3 Eurodisney Research Design.† 123HelpMe.com. 06 Jan 2013 http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=164935

Discuss a portion of the clip Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discuss a portion of the clip - Essay Example Firstly, the film producer relies on music to place the film in its immediate context. Application of Nazi anthem illustrates the political era depicted by the films plot. The filmmaker intends to illustrate life in the midst of wars and political revolutions. Thus, the clip applies music to illustrate the thin boundary that exists within emotions. The clip illustrates romance that flourished in the midst of war and anguish. Despite the immediate political situation, the characters purposed to maintain their romantic relationships. La Marseillaise is the French national anthem and it stands out as a symbol of love and harmony throughout the film. Finally, the film uses sound tracks or music to enhance interest among its audience. The use of popular music such as the French national anthem makes the audience associate themselves with the film, hence increasing their interest. Both pieces of music illustrate different points of view among the film’s

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Business Plan - Essay Example Computer software industry is booming and has the highest growth rate as compared to other industries. According to Commander (215) global soft ware market is worth $370 billion. Soft ware industry in the USA exceeded $ 261 billion in 2007. The annual growth rate was 14% in 2007. The annual growth rate has been above 15% since 1990. This indicates that the market is large and always growing. Application software programs perform actual business and industry roles. As a result, most businesses find it useful to analyse their company information. Soft ware application tools are becoming popular. They comprise of data access and retrieval, data management, data manipulation, program design and development software. According to Stair and Reynolds (168) businesses use e-products to improve the operations of the business enterprises. Word processing, inventory management software, database management, customized data analysis application, loan calculators, accounting applications, desktop publishing and graphic designs are part of the online office manager that are gaining world wide acceptance in the business world. Help managers and other workers to analyse company information. Information analyzed using the online office manager speed up decision making and conclusions in the business enterprises. Baldauf and Stair (421) asserts that e-products save company’s time and money. Therefore, there is a wide market for the online office manager application. The first objective of Buzweb Inc. is to develop user friendly office management applications that have various uses. The second objective is to ensure that the office management applications retain their effectiveness at all times. The third objective is to improve on the existing office applications. The fourth objective is to develop affordable office applications for all business enterprises. The management philosophy of Buzweb Inc. is

Communiction Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Communiction Theories - Essay Example For example, the phrase â€Å"Where are you going†, without the question mark will be read flatly whereas, when written in the form, â€Å"Where are you going?†; there is an indication that the speaker should have a falling pitch. Moreover, the importance of punctuation marks are seen in the meanings relayed in the sentences. For instance, â€Å"They are Grants sisters† and â€Å"They are Grant’s sisters† imply different meanings where the former presents two probable corrections. First, it may be considered that the writer missed a word and can be corrected as â€Å"They are the Grants sisters† meaning, they are the sisters from the Grants family. Secondly, it could be edited to form the second sentence with the apostrophe, distinctly stating that they are the sisters of Grant. It is vital not only to place the punctuation marks on the right places but also to use the correct punctuation mark because they can change the tone of a sentence which consequently will change the meaning of the sentence. â€Å"You are good.†, is a statement. â€Å"You are good!†, indicates an excited feeling towards the person being appreciated. â€Å"You are good?†, poses a challeng ing tone to the person being referred to regarding goodness. These few examples show how punctuation marks affect communication so much that students and professionals alike are drawn to the study of

Exhibit Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Exhibit - Assignment Example Consequently, it gives a description of the relationship exhibited between the five art works and how they are related to the exhibition theme, which is War. This exhibition will entail a scenario where artworks depicting effects of war, beginning from the world war would be placed next to each other; however, it the first artwork that will be presented will describe events that occur just before war. The arrangement of all the five artworks is made in a more chronological manner. This is considered one of the most creative artwork in London; it was created by Walter Bayes in 1918. It shows a scenario of the underworld who sought refuge in a Tube-like station in London, when it was raided through air, hence making it relevant to the exhibition theme. It is an effective representation of the consequences of war and how it affects grass root community as depicted in this picture (The underworld society are left homeless and have sought refuge in a Tube-like station). Just like the above art exhibitions, this piece narrates an event of World War I as it happened in London This art work, which is a photograph represents the effects of war in Africa, specifically, the Central African Republic. It shows a soldier, captured after being suspected to belong to a former rebel group. The photograph was taken by Issouf Sanogo. Unlike the first art work exhibited in this discussion, this is art work is referred as a photograph usually created by cameras that take instant images. The first art work is a drawing made by hand and may usually take longer periods of time to create. Similarly to the third exhibition, this artwork represents the effects of war. It was created by John Singer in 1919 to exhibit how Western Front soldiers suffered an attack through the use of Mustard Gas. In addition, this piece was meant to show the magnitude of bravery as it was shown by the Soldiers who lost their lives from the Mustard gas as well as those who survived. The relevance of this

Google vs. Yahoo Web Browsers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Google vs. Yahoo Web Browsers - Essay Example Both these web browsers have an enormous portfolio for their users. Lets compare some of the services offered by both these web giants. (Luke, 2005)Yahoo groups are are more popular when compared to google groups mainly because yahoo has been in the market for a longer time. The groups are easily formed and mails are sent either as a digest or individually.Google revolutionized the mailing procedures by introducing huge inbox size which is now upto more that 6 GBs. Yahoo offers a lower limit however news is circulating that an unlimited inbox size for the users is in the works.As mentioned above, Google's point of differentiation is the complex algorithims used in their search engines for local searches, image searches and web searches. Yahoo doesn't have that much fire-power yet it still is a popular choice for some.Yahoo provides street maps and driving directions for US cities only. The Google maps are extremely diverse as they are capable of providing business locations, contact information, and driving directions for big cities of the world.Google's social networking site, Orkut is a popular choice for many Asians and users in Southern America. This popularity has been recently crushed by the vastness of Facebook which has conquered most of the continents. Yahoo's 360* was never popular and it still hasn't caught on as Orkut had. Others There is a list of other services such as online shopping, news, alerts, answers etc. that are available with both Google and Yahoo and not much differences are there in these services. Interface, Design, and Layout When comparing two important website browsers, it is important to compare their interface, design and layout from the evaluation point of view as well as user friendliness point of view. A good website must contain useful content that is simple to comprehend, flexible for use of multiple technologies and consistent with easy navigating capability. (Collins, 2006) Google has a very neat and simple user interface with the front page only containing the search bar and links on the top. On the other hand Yahoo!'s page is jumbled with information, links and lacks focus. Users generally like simple and easy to understand sites and Google's simplified interface means that people of any age and skill will be able to access their site. Advertisements Advertising is necessary for websites especially for websites like Google and Yahoo! that offer free services to their users. This is their main source of revenue. When the website opens up, Google presents only the services without any advertisements. Yahoo lines up its advertisements on the front page which is a nuisance value for the users. As such, it is important to avoid advertisements as much as possible. Advertisements are extremely unpopular with the users as they are completely useless for most people. Even though both Google and Yahoo! are text-based sites, Yahoo's advertisements are a source of user irritation. Consistency Another characteristic of a good web browser website is the consistency in the design. As mentioned above, there are a lot of similar services offered by both Yahoo! and Google. However the design of the services is remarkably different. Like the front page, Google is consistent with the minimum text on the page with just enough to help the user understand and comprehend it. This has the effect of uniformity and consistency, whereas Yahoo! keeps different layouts for each of its services page. Even though each service has a link

World War I Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

World War I - Research Paper Example One must understand that there were a number of different reasons as to why the World War I broke out in the first place. The formation of the Central and the Allied alliances had a very essential role in lengthening the time period of the war which actually made this war into a very destructive one from a number of different aspects (Higham 2003). Within the Western and the Eastern fronts of Europe, there were clear cut signs of formation of armies and this played a huge role in erupting the war from the aegis if the sea. Essentially the war kicked off from these quarters. The role of the United States was immensely significant in starting the World War I. Similarly it played its decisive role at prolonging the war to great extents as well. There were a number of victories and losses within the World War I. However what is most important is the need to understand that the whole war was a huge loss to the society and the peoples of the different nations (Murphy 1979). Their lives were ended, properties decimates and so on and so forth. The humanity got a real shock from the domains of the leadership regimes working within the countries, who were actively or inactively involved within the war itself. So many of the children lost their parents, a number of them even lost their lives. Women lost their husbands and brothers to thi s war and hence the blow to the whole structure of the family was something that could easily be suggested as a major negative within the crux of the situation that took place during the length of the World War I (Walker 2001). The ending was also on a negative note, much like the whole period of the war. The victors might just have won the war but they were unable to win anything else apart from that. Killing innocent people is never considered a victory for any army or a nation so to speak. The interesting thing about World War I was that there were a number of different wars within the World War I

Swansea Dockland Heritage Society System Specification Coursework

Swansea Dockland Heritage Society System Specification - Coursework Example Lastly it can take advantage of the available internet technology that is constantly evolving. This system has basically automated the manual system and this is a complete change over for the organization. Automating registration and member activity has ensure that the system benefits the museum. The system stands to benefit the organization in two major ways. First, it broadens the scope of the organization and at the same time acts as an effective marketing tool for the organization. This places the organization directly to benefit from the expanded market view and hence a rise in the member subscription. The number of users who will subscribe to the service will eventually buy the book and non book objects. Another intangible benefit is the service that the organization can offer to the increased member subscription. It can start promotions where users can buy coupons and also organize group visits to the

Standard of Care Essay Example for Free

Standard of Care Essay Case Study: Sandra, a 45-year old female, was brought into the emergency room by her friends with a severe head wound. According to her friends, Sandra tripped and fell after consuming several alcoholic drinks. When she arrived at the hospital she was incoherent and the hospital staff was not able to contact her next of kin. Due to the severity of her wounds, the physician chose to begin medical procedures. 1. Define â€Å"standard of care.† How would appropriate â€Å"standard of care† be determined in this case? Standard of care is a diagnostic and treatment process that a clinician should follow for a certain type of patient, illness, or clinical circumstances. The appropriate standard of care to this patient would be to treat Sandra as in any other patient would be treated for a head injury. Medical staff should not treat her any different because she had been consuming alcohol. 2. What is the difference between informed and implied consent? Was the consent in this case implied, informed, or neither? Explain your response. With informed consent, this means that the individual is aware of exactly what they are getting into. This usually comes up in medical settings, where before a person agrees to a procedure they must know the benefits and dangers. Another element of informed consent is that the person must be mentally capable of consenting. For example, giving a severely intoxicated individual a list of benefits and dangers doesnt really inform him of anything. Implied consent is when you dont affirmatively express consent verbally or in writing, but your behavior indicates your consent. For example, if a nurse comes in the room and asks if it is okay to take your blood pressure, and you raise your arm to her, you are consenting to the procedure. In this case, Sandra was under implied consent. The patient was incoherent and could not verbally consent to treatment and be informed of any proceedings. 3. Using the internet, research the Patient Care Partnership. Identify and explain three rights that the patient has according to the Patient Care Partnership. The Patient Care Partnership replaced the AHAs Patients Bill of Rights. This plain language brochure informs patients about what they should expect during their hospital stay with regard to their rights and responsibilities. a. High Quality Hospital Care. It is a responsibility of a healthcare location  to provider care you need with skill, compassion, and respect. The patient has the right to tell the care givers if you have any concerns about your care or if you have any pain. You have the right to know the identity of doctors, nurses, and others involved in your care. You also share the right to know whether they are students, residents, or trainees. b. Clean and safe environment. A health care facility uses special policies and procedures to avoid mistakes in patient care and keep the patient free from abuse and neglect. c. Patient confidentiality.There are state and federal laws that protect the patient’s information from being released to anybody outside of the patient’s direct care. 4. Using the internet, research the Good Samaritan Laws in your state. Summarize it and explain if it would apply to this case. Under the State of Nebraska, the Good Samaritan Law states, no person who renders emergency care at the scene of an accident or other emergency gratuitously, shall be held liable for any civil damages as a result of any act or omission by such person in rendering the emergency care or as a result of any act or failure to act to provide or arrange for medical treatment or care for the injured person. The Good Samaritan law does not apply to this case because the patient was not at the scene of an accident, but at the hospital. When the patient is on hospital or clinic property, there are other liabilities that come into play (http://www.cprinstructor.com/NE-GS.htm). 5. Define the terms below and give an example of how each of these principles should be used in this case: Respect: respect is to show that person attention and to regard the person’s feelings. Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Dignity: the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. In the case presented, empathy is shown to the patient by how you are reacting around the patient. You do not want to make fast movements, unless emergency is required, because the patient could awaken at any moment and be frightened. You show the patient respect and dignity by treating her as a patient. The medical staff should not treat her bad and judge her as an alcoholic. The medical staff is there to treat the patient and not to judge or make the patient uncomfortable for any reason.

Child Independence And Thinking Skills

Child Independence And Thinking Skills Critical independent thinking skills are very important for your children. These important skills can enhance self-esteem and promote an ability to meet any challenging situation with ease and optimism. However, as parents we can hinder our childrens ability to develop independence thinking skills by helping or doing more than they actually need. Sometimes, we may even never realize that we are actually doing all the work for them. In life, parents just love their children and they want to take care of their children in every possible way. However, parents may also forget that going all the way to help their children may actually hinder their childrens ability to develop independence thinking skills. One of the primary goals of parents is to help children develop the intense desire and ability to think on their own without others help. Independent thinking is the desire or wish of a person to convince him or her that the information and detail being presented is true, worthy or reasonable. Why attitude of independence is important for your children? A child who develops independence skills will always feel more confident about themselves and their ability to solve intricate life problems especially when you are not there. You children will feel on top of the world when they work on their own and without your help. They will also show a heightened enthusiasm to work more to achieve minor goals and objectives. Just think how your children will be excited when they learn to wear their socks or zip up the jacket for the first time without any help from you! Just by doing these simple things, they feel so proud of their ability to do things on their own. Developing independence skills will provide a number of benefits to your children such as: A steep rise in confidence level and self-esteem An ability to solve problems those occur in daily life Developing compassion and love for others An ability to help others when they are in problems Better self-image and enthusiasm When children feel that they can do things on their own, they will also naturally want to learn and master new skills or solve intricate problems. For example, a child who has repeatedly worked on buttoning her blouse and who finally does it without her parents help will naturally demand to try wear that blouse all by herself without help from anyone. Alternatively, a boy who has repeatedly tried to tie his shoelace and who finally does it without his parents help will start trying to slip the shoes himself. You feel normally excited and thrilled, if your children are learning all things with their own initiative. This is what most parents expect from their children too. Obviously, parents also want their children learn new things, skills and abilities on their way to adulthood. However, these events may happen only when parents provide their children an opportunity to try to do things on their own. In nutshell, you may need to encourage independence in your children by watching patiently when your small children try to button their shirts on their own even if they take many minutes. If you lose your patience at this critical juncture, you will probably hindering or preventing your children from learning important independence skills. If you observe that your children are failing in their act of learning new skills, you may need to encourage them to try again instead of helping your children with your own efforts. Independence skills are practical life skills. These skills can easily assist your children develop confidence, feel less scared or nervous and eventually face any situations that are likely to be encountered at school and public places. Regardless of what children, may demand or they feel need, parents may need to try to train them in acquiring critical independence skills and responsibilities. Mind you, it is a lifelong commitment that might be difficult to achieve and satisfy. Not all children may succeed in learning these skills. There could be many reasons for this perceived failure. Development milestones are not the same among all children. Some of them may show keenness to learn independence thinking skills while others may take some more time to learn them. Whatever the case, parents will need to give enough opportunities for their children to learn these skills at an early age. Cleaning up rooms, tables, helping parents finish house chore and getting ready for the school are some of the most important skills that your children can learn. Today, families around the world are busier than ever. Parents also feel bad about not giving enough time for their children. When parents use the available time by working with their children, they can easily teach very important lessons about independence and responsibility. Teaching Your Children Independence Skills How Parents can be Proactive in Training their children Tying shoelaces, buttoning the shirt, cleaning the study table, doing laundry and doing homework on own without parents help these are some of the most common yet important responsibilities for a child. These simple activities may look and feel very simple to many of us. However, they can pose a big challenge for most of the children who are under the age of 10 years. To an adult, these simple jobs may look monotonous and regular. However, these perceived simple tasks may look humungous to most children. There are many skills and techniques that your children mist learn and master before they leave home for their higher studies. Acquiring independence thinking skills at an early age will help your children build confidence and self-esteem. Young children and toddlers often like to do very meaningful and understandable adult-type tasks. Many times, they are too enthusiastic about doing things on their own. What they lack are the techniques or methods to perform these tasks. To help your children succeed in learning independence skills, you may need to set up a congenial physical environment to assist them become more independent. To set up an atmosphere for doing work on own, you may wish to provide: Easy climb and sit chairs; your children should be able to get in and out of the chair independently, Easily climbable stools near sinks and wash places so that children can easily wash their hands before and after eating, An easily reachable waste tub where children can deposit refuse and wastage after snack and dinner time, Cleaning towels and sponges that can help children clean up What you can do to help your children become independent: Providing ample opportunities: Provide plenty of opportunities for your children to learn independent thinking skills. Your children should understand that learning independence skills will help them become efficient and enabled in their classroom and out of it. As a parent, you may wish to cajole your children to do work on their own and without your help. When your children understand that doing small tasks with their own initiatives is good for them, they will try to work on small tasks that are simple and straightforward. Encourage independence: As far as possible, give limited choices for your children. When your children have limited choices in front of them, they will try to achieve excellence in the tasks they want to perform. Ensure that you respect your childrens preferences. Example: Let us say that you are giving drinking chocolate to your children. You may now give just two options for them. Ask this simple question Do you need that orange cup or the blue cup? Alternatively, your children want to dress up for their piano class. You may ask your children this simple question The red dress is that side drawer and the grey one is in the cupboard. Pick the one that you like. Here, your children will try to assess the merit of your question and decide on their answers after thinking over it for some time. Show flexibility towards your children: Becoming independent takes lot of time. Respect your childs natural limitations. Never ever, pressurize your children beyond certain limits. Make sure that you integrate the training within the ambit of your work. Use the available opportunities to teach your children independence thinking skills. Involve your children in making plans: You can ask your children to suggest you ideas to help make the learning program a success. Children can give wonderful ideas. Use their abilities to help them succeed in learning independence thinking skills. Explain what independence is: You may wish to explain the benefits and advantages of mastering independence thinking skills. Tell them how learning such skills will help in classroom and in other places. Let children try to do work on own: Some children will try to do small tasks on own. For example, children love to button their shirts or tie shoelaces. Most children fail in their first few attempts because it is natural; children may not develop the necessary muscle-eye-bone coordination when they are young. Let them try to do their tasks. If they fail, you can help them but with solutions to the problems. Tell them how they can button up their shirts and demonstrate the act by standing in front of them. Be affirmative and reinforce positive assertions: Always, reinforce positive reinforcement and avoid negative ones. Be positive with your children and help your children become positive as well. If they do any task with success, compliment them with your heart. There are a number of independent thinking skills that your children must learn and master to become successful in life. Here are some of them: Note: The most important skill that your children must learn is to realize that mastering independent thinking skills will help them achieve critical goals. 1. Encourage your children to ask questions and find answers with their own efforts 2. Make sure that the questions should always have a why and what happens if component attached to them. 3. Your children should find their own solutions or answers to their problems. Buttoning a shirt is one classic example. Most children often fail in their first attempt. However, they will master the task with continuous repetitions. 2. Teach your children experimentation. Your children should be able to experiment on simple challenges and tasks till they find a valid solution. Please remember that learning independent thinking skills relates very closely with performing most common daily tasks. Children who develop critical independent thinking skills can be very successful in their life.