​Nurture the Inner Seeds

​Nurture the Inner Seeds by Dr. Jyoti Hegde

Parents and teachers can use this short story to encourage children to work on practising their talents.
 
Neha was given a new class assignment. On reaching home she handed over some Moong seeds to her mom and said, "Mom, look at what the teacher gave us today. She has told us to sow them, keep them in sunlight and water them daily. We have to show the plants to her after a week." Her mom replied, "Neha since it is your assignment, it is your responsibility. I will guide you if you need any help. Neha agreed and sowed the Moong seeds in a pot and watered it. Next day, Neha forgot about the seeds.

​After a week, her teacher reminded them to get their assignment to school the next day. Neha panicked for a moment, but then remembered sowing the seeds and was sure that they would have grown into plants. On reaching home, Neha went to check on the seeds. But she was shocked to see that there were no plants in the pot. She screamed, "Oh Mamma, see this! The seeds which I had planted have not grown. I must tell the teacher that the seeds were defective." Her mom asked her, "Neha, why don't you check with your classmates if their seeds too didn’t grow?" So Neha visited her friend Poonam's house in her neighbourhood to check her seeds. Poonam's seeds had grown into plants. Poonam explained to her that she had watered them daily and now they had grown into beautiful little plants. Neha realised that she had forgotten the teacher’s instructions to water the seeds daily. She returned home and told her mom, "Mom, we forgot to water the plants." Her mom smiled. She said, "Neha, I did remember, but I wanted you to learn to take responsibility for your own assignment. So what have you understood from this incident, dear?" Neha replied, "That I should take responsibility for my assignment. I also learnt that for seeds to grow into plants we need to water them daily." Her mom replied, "Yes, you are right Neha. Seeds have the potential to grow into plants, but only those which are watered daily, grow into plants. Similarly my dear child, you have the potential to excel at dancing and drawing but if you don't work on your talents regularly, they will not grow just like these seeds."

Neha could not submit her assignment the next day but learnt a valuable lesson about taking responsibility for one's assignments and the importance of nurturing one's talents. She started practising dance and drawing regularly to nurture her inner seeds of talent. She also re-planted some Moong seeds and watered them daily and this time they grew into beautiful plants.