Self-Determination: The Art of Living a Worthy Life

In the year 1883, a thoughtful engineer was inspired by an idea of connecting the New York City to the Long Island by a spectacular bridge. The name of the engineer was John Roebling. The world declared his idea to be unrealistic, but Roebling couldn’t ignore the vision he had in his mind. After a deep thought, he decided to share this idea with his son Washington. The father-son duo worked day and night to find out ways to accomplish the bridge and how the obstacles could be removed. To chase their wild vision, they hired a team and started the work of the bridge. The work was going quite smoothly when an accident occurred that took Roebling’s life and left Washington handicapped. Only the father and the son knew the secret of how to accomplish the bridge, but after the accident it seemed that the vision of the bridge had been scrapped. Washington tried his level best to pass on his ideas to some of his friends, but he failed because he neither could move nor could utter any word.

One morning, when he was in the hospital bed, an idea crossed his mind. He called his wife and touched her arms with the finger that he could move. He nudged and asked his wife to call the engineers. Washington used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again. For 13 years Washington tapped out all the instructions on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances.

It is true that only our inner spirit and determination can work as a fuel to chase our vision in life. We human beings cannot predict what will happen to us in the next moment, but if we prepare ourselves to fight with any situation, we can reach the goal. The skill of having strong self-determination cannot be nurtured in a day or two; childhood is the perfect time for allowing the kids to make them acquainted with it. A research study declared that parents can play a great role in boosting up their kids’ self-determination. Allowing the kids to use their self-determination skills along with providing them opportunities to do so could be of great help in their academic life also.

Children are like free birds that need the open sky to spread their wings of imagination. So always support and appreciate their inner enthusiasm. If a child gets self-motivated, the child can be able to understand the responsibilities also. There are some parents who always try to restrict their kids’ activities. It is not bad in terms of security, but they should always be given the liberty of thought and action under the close observation of the elders. Parents can help support children’s self determination skill development by teaching certain skills at home and enrolling their children in programs that help to foster development in areas like choice making, decision making, problem solving, independent living, risk taking, safety tips, leadership and self-awareness.