How a child perceives beauty

One day my daughter thought of assisting me in gardening,  as she loves that work. My daughter enjoyed watching different butterflies and the flowers; I taught her how to sow a seed and for that we were digging up the soil. Suddenly a caterpillar came out of the soil, slowly crept under a leaf and started eating it. My daughter  was observing it with surprise as she saw a caterpillar for the first time. I thought she would be afraid but to my amazement she told me that “I like that creature, ma, Isn’t it beautiful. Can I be friend with it? I want to take it home and play with it.”

At that moment my mind boggled with hundreds of questions like.

The things we may like may not be liked by others and it is well said that “Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it “– Confucius

How we define beauty? Thing which are good to look at, a pretty face, some ones stunning attire, those who are wealthy, things with vibrant colors….Is this the real beauty? These characteristics can only attract people’s attention. We always adore and sometimes tend to judge everything and everyone by their appearance. True beauty is not that pleases our eyes but it is that which touches our soul’s and heart. A person’s action and its qualities make one beautiful. The outer beauty can be embellished by using cosmetics and feature correction techniques available these days but the inner beauty of heart is pure and is ones real beauty.

The famous fairy tale “The Beauty and the Beast” teaches us a very important aspect of life. The princess who always cherished for a charming prince but ended up choosing the beast as life partner because he had a kind and loving heart and mainly because Beautiful people are not always good but good people are always beautiful.

By this I remember about a quite unusual flower. If I say you to imagine a flower then a first features which comes up in mind is the vibrant colors and the mesmerizing fragrance, but if I say all flowers do not possess these feature. Yes “Rafflesia Arnorldii” is a flower with very strong and horrible odor of decaying fish but still it is famous for being the largest flower in the world and that’s how it makes it important. Likewise every living thing in this world has its own specialties and nobody can replace them. Though Rafflesia flower cannot give fragrance it has it’s own specialty. The characteristics which one has are one’s own asset, we can pretend to be like someone but in real life everyone is unique and beautiful.

World Largest Flower

Lastly, I would say that we should teach our children to be proud to be what we are as we all are unique creations of god with one thing in common ‘a pure heart’.
Tell me what beauty really means to you by giving your comments.

Also read: Navrasas Of Motherhood Through A Mother’s Eye

Explore the entire collection of articles: Parenting Gyaan

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