“ — A BEAUTIFUL LESSON IN RAISING CHILDREN*
Yesterday, Dhruv went to Costco in Seattle.
Outside the store, he no soticed a little boy, hardly five years old, standing with packets of chips and a small board that said they were being sold for $20 for a Scouts charity fundraiser.
People were walking past him.
With the innocence and confidence of a five-year-old, he would approach them one by one:
“Would you like to buy a packet?”
Some bought.
Many smiled and politely said, “No, thank you.”
But the little boy did not look disappointed.
He simply smiled, turned to the next person, and tried again.
Dhruv stopped and bought a packet from him.
The boy smiled brightly and said, “Thank you!”
Curious, Dhruv asked him,
“How many packets do you still have to sell? And how long are you going to stay here?”
His answer was something Dhruv—and perhaps all of us—will remember for a long time.
“Till 100 people say NO to me.”
Dhruv was surprised.
The teacher standing beside the boy then explained:
“It is not important how many packets he sells. What is important is that he learns, at this age, how to hear ‘NO’… accept it… and still have the courage to ask the next person.”
What a lesson!
We spend so much time teaching our children how to succeed.
Study hard.
Come first.
Win the competition.
Get selected.
Achieve more.
But perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give them is to teach them how to fail.
How to hear NO without losing confidence.
How to face rejection without feeling defeated.
How to fall without being afraid of getting up again.
How to understand that one rejection does not define their worth.
Because life will not always say YES.
There will be examinations we don't clear, opportunities we don't get, interviews we don't crack, relationships that don't work, and dreams that take longer than expected.
Success makes us happy.
But learning how to handle failure makes us strong.
That little five-year-old was not standing outside Costco merely selling chips.
He was practising courage.
He was collecting “NOs.”
He was learning resilience.
He was preparing for life.
Maybe instead of asking our children only,
“Did you win?”
we should sometimes ask,
“Did you try again after you failed?”
Don't raise a child who is only prepared for success.
Raise a child who is not afraid of failure.
A salute to that teacher.
A salute to his parents.
And a salute to that little boy who taught a grown-up world a very big lesson:
*Sometimes, 100 NOs can teach you more than one YES.*❤️
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