Friends, I would like to share something that I hold very dear even though I just read it. Gloson and his mom are very special to me and I feel like I know them as well as if they were family. This brilliant and sweet young man is beyond belief!! What an amazing job his mom has done!
My Mom’s Message to All Parents on my Poetry Book
Part 1: The production of the poetry book
Dear parents,
My career has been full of strange incidents and my first born son Gloson has gone through them with me since he was 5.
In November 2008, Gloson was 10 years old. I said to him, “Mommy needs your help. Could you help me? Choose 20 of the poems you wrote when you were 9 and illustrate them accordingly, and I will sell them.”
Happily he obeyed. As he was just a young boy, he only drew the main characters, finishing them within 2 weeks.
After he finished it, I started to look for an investor to publish the book. On Thursday, 9th of April 2009, which happened to be my birthday, someone agreed to enter into a joint publishing venture with me on the book.
I wanted to send the book for printing immediately but, somehow, when I read through it again, I realized that Gloson’s illustrations were too simple. Then I advised him to redraw them according to the descriptions contained in his poems.
You can view the before and after of one of his illustrations on his blog in this article.
Starting on Friday 10th of April, Gloson did as I had asked, working from 4 p.m. until 4 a.m. the next morning.
We thought we only needed a few more days, so he stayed home from school on Monday.
As time went by, working daily from 4 p.m. until 4 a.m., Gloson’s wrist became numb from clicking the mouse continuously, 12 hours a day. Itchy rashes appeared on his legs. He was tired and stressed, worrying about the huge amount of school work he would need to catch up with when he went back to school.
I went to his school and explained this to his class teacher. She agreed to let him work on his book to help the family.
It took Gloson almost 45 days to complete the illustrations with the details reflecting the content of his poems. To me it seemed slow compared to the time I imagined a professional artist would take. Gloson had never been enrolled in drawing classes and thus created his illustrations entirely through his imagination and mental visualization, the determination of his heart and the suffering of his right hand.
On Friday, 8th of May 2009, Gloson returned to school. The following Monday was the first day of his mid-term examinations. Luckily, he did well! The school teachers started to call him ‘working boy’.
The book was finally finished and printed on 28th of May, 2009.
Part 2: My encouragement to my son in particular and children in general
In January, I sent emails to the press about Gloson’s gifts. The reporters came and interviewed him, not so much about his poetry book as for his blog. He may be the youngest independent English-language blogger in the world.
Reporters and others raised several questions based on their concern over his young age.
“Do you think you have used your son?”
“Do you think that you will overstress him?”
“Isn’t it unfair to ask him to work for you?”
These were good questions and prompted me to some deep thought, asking my unconscious mind (right brain) to explain the matter to my conscious mind (left brain) and the resulting message is addressed to all parents:
Dear parents, on the one hand, it is absolutely true that I made use of Gloson’s gifts and talents. Remember? I told him I needed his help to select his favorite poems and illustrate them? That meant he knew I was making use of him!
On the other hand, we were both overjoyed! For me, I was making “good use” of his abilities and Gloson felt great that his talent in poetry is recognized, approved, and encouraged!
I told him 4 important truths:
I said, “My son, the purpose of schooling is to equip you with knowledge so that you might know what career to pursue when you grow up.
“Now, while you are still young, you have already found out that you can be a poet and an entrepreneur, isn’t that a blessing?
“Look at mommy, I graduated as a biochemist, but it took 10 years for me to discover that my true gifts are in the educational field!
“Look at Rockson, your 7-year-old brother. As I had to work, I was unable to teach him in the way that I taught you. He was brought up by a maid and, whenever I was able, I would teach him about music and dance. You can see that he is a great dancer now, exactly as his name suggests – ‘Rockson’ rocks on! You can see that he keeps asking me to produce a marketable CD to show the world his dancing once the work on your book is completed.
“It is such a blessing to discover one’s hobby as young as possible! Because a hobby can be turned into a skill and, later, a career! The earlier one starts doing a thing the more expert one becomes. When you grow up, you will not feel stressed by your work. There is a saying: “If you enjoy your work, it will be as though you never work a day in your life – just enjoy your hobby all the time!”
Secondly, I said to Gloson: “What is the ultimate purpose of learning? It is to produce or create a product, creation, or fruit from all that you know or have learned.
“Your poetry book is really the output, the fruit of and testimony to your intelligence, excellence and diligence at this stage of your development.
“So, this book is more precious than your academic performance. Good academic performance requires understanding, memory, and consistency in revision.
“But to produce this book involved (1) the whole-brain thinking process when you wrote the poems freely, as inspired to, (2) the creative ability to illustrate the poems properly and with funkiness, (3) 45 truly grueling 12-hour days of persistence and tenacity.
“By the way, it hasn’t engaged you for a whole year.”
(In fact Gloson has a lot of free time! Every day, he finishes his school work at school. When he arrives at home, at about 1.30 pm., he will have lunch, relax, play with his younger brother and enjoy some computer time: replying to emails, writing articles for his blog, or playing games. He usually exercises outside from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, playing football, basketball, badminton and tag. After dinner, at about 8.30pm, he will enjoy some computer time again, going to sleep at about 11.00pm.)
Thirdly, I told him, “This book will raise funds for your future education in case anything should happen to mommy.
“The book will be a legacy for your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all your descendants forever!”
Fourthly, I said, “You are a good role model for parents to motivate their children.
“Do you wish the children of the world to be disillusioned, destitute, and depressed, or inspired, intelligent, and diligent like you?
“So, know your role for yourself, for me and for society!”
Hearing me repeating it whenever he was unmotivated, he would get charged up spiritually, and relax happily with a joyful smile!
Part 3: My thoughts and advice to all parents
My thoughts
Dear parents, have you watched the movie or read the book entitled ‘Catch Me if You Can’? I read the book in September 2008. It is based upon the true story of infamous check forger, imposter and confidence trickster Frank Abagnale, Jr. who eventually “metamorphosed” into a wealthy American security consultant.
One thing I will always remember is something Frank Abagnale said: “Looking at what I’ve been through, how I wish that every human being could be like this: The strong body of a 20-year-old but with the matured mind of a 40-year-old.”
He said this because he regretted the mistakes he made when he was 19. He metamorphosed to a tremendously successful businessman after he realized his mistakes when he was about 35. How he wished he was matured enough when he was 19, so that he wouldn’t go through the painful consequences of his crimes.
I remember these words very well because that is my hope too.
I look at my children. I know that, when they grow up, they will surely face difficulties in life from which they are protected for now. How I wish I could protect them forever! But, even if I were able to, I do not think it would be the perfect plan for them! Wouldn’t they become like fragile glass? I truly wish for them to turn out robust, like steel!
Then I think about God. Perhaps God thinks the same way when he allows suffering to occur.
So, what I mean is…
I was willed by my entire conscious and unconscious mind to let my son go through this, and Gloson was, of course, more than willing to see the project through too. Had it been otherwise, the book would not exist!
My Advice
Dear Parents, one question I would like to ask you:, “Is it easy to identify a teachable and trainable child?”
Gloson was born when I was not working and desperately wanted a child. I prayed to God for a child. When he was born, I poured out all my love to him. I did all I could for him and taught him all I knew up until he was 22 months old when I had to stop abruptly because his father suffered a financial crisis and it was necessary for me to return to work to help support our little family.
Amazingly, what and how I had taught him turned out indeed to be methods proven by child educationalists!
So Gloson, whose name means ‘son of glory’, really is special in that he is a good example with which to encourage parents to nurture their children when they are young.
The second question you might consider is, “Are there many examples like Gloson that I can use to motivate my child?”
I think there may not be many and those who do exist might be hard to find, one reason being that their parents might not want to expose them for fear of kidnap.
By God’s grace, Gloson and his poetry book project are here to serve as an example. He is capable mentally and physically. Psychologically, he knows his role for himself, for his family and for the children of the world.
So, finally, I would like to encourage you to get this book for your child, precisely because good role models are so scarce.
(1) Show your child the front cover demonstrating that this book was created by a kid named Gloson.
(2) Explain to your child that every child, including him or her, is born with multiple and different, but great, talents.
(3) Name some of the talents your child has (such as reading, writing, drawing, singing, etc.).
(4) Advise your child to endure the process of transformation, just as metamorphosis transforms a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly!
Talents, hobbies, and gifts ->Willingness to metamorphose -> Creation, productivity, and career
(5) Remind them about the metamorphosis process and the 3rd part of my letter every now and then, so that it will sink into their spirit as a firm foundation to live by!
The external world, beyond the home can be critical, harsh, and cold. A child needs to be loved, encouraged, and trained by the family every day!
Thank you for reading my letter! I hope that it helps you in some way.
