【作者】Eileen Caddy
【翻譯】熊倩涵
【編輯】顏士寶
Unless you allow a very small child to do things for itself, to feed itself, to walk, to dress itself, to write, to draw, to express itself, it will never develop and become independent and be able to stand on its own feet and make its own decisions. You have to stand back and allow it to make mistakes and to take a long time to master what it is learning to do. You have to be very patient and wait and watch, no matter how tempted you are to do it for the child to save time. Open your eyes and realise that life is a classroom in a school, and you are learning all the time. How often do I have to stand back and very lovingly watch you fumbling and struggling with life so that you can learn a vitally important lesson, a lesson never to be forgotten once it has been learnt and mastered? I have infinite love and patience.
除非我允許一個非常小的孩子去自己做事情，去自己吃飯、自己走路、自己穿衣服、去寫字、去畫畫、去表達她／他自己，否則她／他永遠都不會發展成長以及變得獨立自主，能夠做出自己的決定。我需要靠後站，允許她／他犯錯誤，並花時間去精通她／他所學到的。我需要非常有耐心，去等待與觀察，無論我多麼想替這個孩子去做，去節省時間。
睜開我的雙眼，意識到生活是一間學校裡的課堂，並且我一直在學習。上天有多經常需要靠後站，帶著愛看著我在生活中摸索掙扎，所以我就能夠學習到極其重要的一課，這堂一旦學習了就永遠不會被遺忘的一課？上天擁有無止境的耐心與愛。
