A few days ago I told you that parents have to be attentive to the “signals” that our children send us, to discover the artist inside. An art, a gift, a special quality ... who does not have any, even a small skill?
But it could be that this gift went unnoticed by the parents or even that the parents were the greatest impediment for the child to develop. Then parents outshine children, as Roald Dahl tells us in his novel "Matilda":
Parents who do not show the least interest in their children and who, of course, are much worse than those who have a delusional love. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were one of those. They had a son named Michael and a daughter named Matilda, whom parents considered little more than a posture. (...) Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were anxiously waiting for the moment to get rid of their daughter and throw her away (...).
Are some parents who ignore the qualities of their children, who turn them off or despise them. So I don't know the son, in a kind of child abuse also sad. The sadder the more evident the "art" of the child. This is what happens to Matilda, the extraordinary little girl in the novel:
It is already bad that there are parents who treat normal children as a posture and bunions, but it is much worse when the child in question is extraordinary, and by this I mean when it is sensitive and bright. Matilda was both, but, above all, brilliant. He had such a sharp mind and learned so quickly that his talent would have been clear to moderately intelligent parents. But Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were so slow and so self-absorbed in their selfish ideas that they were unable to appreciate anything out of the ordinary in their children.
Luckily, Matilda's unusual talent is cultivated by herself outside her family. He learns to read at age three thanks to the magazines and the recipe book that was in his house, and when he asks for a book from his father to run away learning and enjoying, he replies:
- Book? Why do you want a damn book? (...) What the hell is wrong with television? We have bought a beautiful twelve-inch TV and now you come asking for a book! You're spoiling, daughter ...
Luckily, Matilda does not fall on screen networks and discovers the public library. But how many Matildas, not novel, will have stayed on the road? Because with parents so "retarded" and negative, the most normal thing would have been for the children to fall into their same stunned face of the screens ...
"Matilda" is a fascinating children's novel, with a film version that I also recommend. And if I have spoken that "luckily" Matilda often happens this or that, it is not because he has mixed fiction and reality, but that I see in Matilda the reflection of many extraordinary children of flesh and blood.
It can be his parents, it can be the school, the society ... those who do not let him develop and grow complete. I want to think that there are not too many parents like the Wormwoods, but it is good to remember that the first pay attention and be attentive to the tastes and needs of children we are.
