This article is a tribute to my kids. Especially my 10 year old boy, who recently championed the use of my “dead” laptop battery to make a rechargeable lamp – which uses NO external power source for charging! This true story proves that coaching others to be super achievers at work , applies just as well, to parenting of our kids at home. Perhaps even more!
Are you a parent? If yes, know that to succeed, you MUST do all in your power, to coach your child to actualize his/her full potential. To do otherwise, would be to fail.
Don’t ask me how I know. I just do. And ever since I began to act in line with that insight, I have known a kind of peace that truly beats the imagination. I often feel so sure about how to parent my kids to achieve self-discovery.
I also intuitively know what to expect. So much so, that I am very rarely surprised by the results I get.
Let me share the following true story, to make this example more real.
My 10 year Old Boy – and his 12 year old brother – are Infected With the “Hands-On” Creativity Bug!
Yesterday, I returned from another trip to Nigeria. This time to install the completed Poultry Farm Manager application I built for a client’s farm in Ekiti state. While there, I trained two farm managers to use it.
On my way back, I spent Independence Day with my family in Lagos.
And what a truly fulfilling experience it turned out to be!
I cannot share everything now, as we’re planning to publish an online video presentation. There will also be a PDF publication, with full details of what they’ve discovered and developed.
But I Will Narrate the Story Below, to Give You an Idea of What These Creative Kids Did
The 10 year old has always been keen on taking things apart, and fiddling with them, to learn how they work. This includes electronic devices of all kinds.
Back when I was a young graduate trainee in Guinness, I used to carry around a fibre glass briefcase. At some point I stopped using it – but each time we moved house, I took it with me.
By the time we moved to Lagos, my 10 year old took it over and began filling it with pieces and parts he picked up from stuff I (or neighbours) threw out. After a while, he began trying to couple things back, after taking them apart. We laughed at him at first. But over time everyone in the house has come to trust his abilities.
Today, he actually does fix things. When the plug for a device fails to work, his mother calls on him. And he confidently takes a look and often gets it working. No exaggeration.
On return from school, he does his assignments, and then turns his full attention to his box of gizmos. This young man will link wires of all kinds together, and begin explaining – to an imaginary audience! – how the linked devices work!!
We Initially Laughed at His efforts – But His Unshakeable Passion Has Made Us “Believers”!
Now he’s buildings things that actually work – mostly by trial and error, with a problem solving focus.
Not long ago, he got broken sections of a rechargeable lamp – the part where the LEDs bulbs are mounted. He then linked AA batteries together in series in a wooden rack,built from pieces of wood.
This was then connected to the terminals of the LEDs from the damaged lamp.
And they came on!
Let me explain why the above was significant, for him, his siblings, and even for us their parents.
You see, our home is in Nigeria – where steady power supply remains a problem.
Hence when it’s dark, it’s either you use a kerosene lantern, candles or a generator, to light up your home. All three options require spending money. No matter how small the amount, it all adds up.
Sometimes, we have to share available light sources, if the generator is not used – or if a bulb in one room is bad.
That drove my son to explore alternative sources of lighting up the room he and his siblings use.
He knew if he could “make light” without having to ask his parents for money, no one would bother him.
I’ve seen him literally sit for hours, fiddling with jumbles of wires, and electronic parts/components. Most times he does this while completely unaware of his surroundings.
From the first time I saw him do this (at the age of 7), I knew instantly, that he was born to do it.
I’ve always studied ALL my kids, to carefully determine each one’s true interests and passion. And I always do my best to encourage or guide them.
That’s why, in the case of the 10 year old, my damaged electronic or computer devices always get passed to him. Not once has he ever turned them back. Instead he instantly start “working” on them!
He’s Now Used My Dead Laptop Battery to Build a Home-Made Rechargeable Lamp!
My Toshiba latop’s battery recently “died”. It could no longer keep my laptop on. If you removed the power cord, the laptop would simply go off. A computer village engineer sold me a new one, and I told my wife to give my son the “bad” one that was taken out.
To be honest, I never thought anything could come of it at the time.
But when I got home on the night of Monday 30th September 2013, I witnessed a demonstration that left me stunned.
My 10 year old (who has now co-opted his equally intuitive/creative 12 year old bother), put on a show that made me so proud!
He showed me a box made of carton in which he’d placed batteries taken from inside the laptop battery I’d given him. They look like much larger sized versions of AA batteries.
Now, I would never have imagined the batteries looked like that. It has never occurred to me to open up the black, rectangular “thing” we all call “laptop battery” to see what was inside.
Below is a picture of the kind of laptop battery I purchased
This is just to give you an idea of what the one I gave him looked like. Notice the shape. Ever thought to open one up to see what was inside? I never did. But my 10 year old not only thought it. He did it, and then used the batteries to make a rechargeable lamp!
Here’s What He Told Me…Including How He Actually Recharges The Batteries Without ANY External Power Source (Not Even Solar!)
He linked the ends of the batteries (which were connected in series), to the terminals for the LEDs from the bad rechargeable lamp.
The light that was produced was extremely bright – almost blinding me at first (Below are some pictures I took as they demonstrated it. Note that they were showing me all this at past 11p.m on Monday 30th September 2013. The next day, Tuesday, was Independence Day, and a public holiday).
Below: Another view of the lighted lamp, as they set it up for me to see.
The first question that came to my mind (and probably yours!) was:
“How did he get a “laptop battery” I thought had “died” up to work like that? How did he charge them?”
The 10 year old explained that since there was no electricity, he began experimenting with alternative ways to charge the batteries.
NB: Being a child, “realistic” thinking that a “dead” battery could not be charged, did not occur to him!
One day, he found that rubbing certain objects together with the batteries, made them retain a charge.
When that happened, he did more rubbing together. They soon got so well charged, that he was able to use his new “light source” in his room at night – even when power went off.
In fact, the night I arrived, it was his “lamp” that was used in the kitchen, because the generator had a fault (the normal lamp was in their mother’s room).
Coming Soon: A Video Interview and Presentation With My 10 Year Old Son – and His Siblings
The above story is just about ONE of three impressive demonstrations my kids put up for me that day.
We’ve decided we’ll be putting up a proper online presentation in PDF and video. In it, they will be interviewed (by me) in detail, on how they recorded those achievements.
This is not to be an ego trip of sorts. There is serious useful purpose to it. Among other things, I want them to have the experience of teaching others to do what they do. Beyond that, I intend to help them “refine” the finishing of their “lamp”, to make it more presentable. And also explore ways to make the “battery charging by rubbing” happen more efficiently.
a. I do all this, to make them realise what they’ve done is commendable, and therefore inspire them to do more.
b. I also want to do it, so serve as an example to other parents and their kids of what is possible.
Therefore consider this article to be a “written trailer preview” of what is to come, regarding the above.
A Question for YOU: Are Your Kids Studying the Right Subject, Topics or “Things”?
Do you know your kids?
Are you interested in what they do?
Do you know what their talents, interests and capabilities are?
If not, I urge you to develop interest in learning all of that now, to help them reach their full potentials.
The earlier they find their calling, the better.
Don’t let your child waste years studying “medicine”, only to graduate and turn to Fashion Design!
Make smart use of your money, and your child’s early years.
Let her study where her passion lies – so she can truly excel in life!
Final Words: In Case You Didn’t Know, Spontaneous Coaching™ Can Help You Do The Above
By way of interest, my kids did not arrive at doing the above by accident.
You see, I make a habit of constantly observing them. Working at home really helps me do this effectively. As a result, I am able to identify the “instinctive tendencies” of each child.
Over time, I carefully guide them to do more, using what I refer to as Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™.
I’ve done this mainly with my 3 boys, who are now 14, 12 and 10 years old respectively, from the age of 5 (I’m now exploring ways to do same for their sisters – who are 7 and 4 years old respectively).
So you see, my passion for writing parenting articles is not by accident…and it’s certainly not forced!
By the time I relocated to Benin Republic, the 12 and 10 year old had “caught the bug”, and become self-driven.
And that’s why each time I go home, they often have something new to show me.
I’m however still working to get the 14 year old to tune in properly, to his passion.
[Update added Oct. 4 12.59: I feel a need to add this. The 14 year old is actually likely to mature into a thinker/writer kind. That’s why I sent him on a 6 month (weekends only) manual type writing coaching course over a year ago.
Since then, I’ve pushed him to try writing short stories – on the PC – based on the reading he does. He’s quite good at recalling stuff he’s interested in (e.g facts about wildlife such as sharks).
Like I’m doing here for his siblings, I put up his first “completed” short story on my blog, some months back. Click here to read it. Getting him to stay focussed and do more has however been the problem.]
He’s struggling right now, but I know we’ll get there – eventually. No one said it would be easy 😉
You too can learn to use Spontaneous Coaching, to help others – your kids especially – excel in life.
Start by reading my article on it here.
Then get in touch if you want to learn or know more.
Good luck!
PS: Note that I deliberately did not show my kids’ full photos, with their faces in this article, unlike past ones. They will of course appear in the video soon to be put up on this subject.