Page 17 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Mindful, Continued from page 16
who could use them.
Welcome failure early and often
help—so I put them to work out of Now, this one is really hard, pri-
necessity," Esther says. Machol says marily because who wants to stand
there’s room for interpretation idly by while their child falters? But
here—and plenty of opportunities Machol says that’s precisely what we
(i.e., assigning chores) to help foster need to do. We cannot protect our
a child’s confidence. But the take- children against failure. Instead, we
away here is to promote responsibil- need to embrace it. Take the case of
ity. Nia Batts, for example: She was rid-
Actively nurture compassion ing high as a successful executive at
In other words, you can’t just talk Viacom but left it all to follow her
about how others are suffering. A dreams of starting something from
parent must go deeper than that. Ma- scratch. She co-founded Detroit
chol says that children whose par- Blows, an inclusive, non-toxic hair
ents show them how it feels to help and beauty service. Remembers Nia,
others who are struggling get a head “My mom was a trial attorney. Most
start in developing a compassionate of the time she won, sometimes she
outlook. Machol learned this first- lost. I remember my dad often ask-
hand from Scott Harrison’s mother, ing me, 'What did you fail at today?'
Joan. Harrison is the founder of He asked me when I was young when
charity: water, a non-profit that re- he was driving me to or from school;
stores and maintains wells to give he asked me when I was in college;
people sustainable access to clean and he asked me more frequently
water, and since its inception has when I started to work." Machol
brought clean water to 12 million thinks this is profound. “Nia's par-
people. Before Joan passed away, ents wanted to make sure they cre-
she told Machol that when Harrison ated an environment where it was
was just a wee little thing in elemen- okay to fail,” says Machol.
tary school, Joan would help him Okay, Dispatch parents and care-
sort through books, clothes, and givers: What would you add to this
toys that he would give away to kids list?
The Wayne Dispatch · October 2022 · 17