“The best gift we parents can give our children is for them to see our eyes light up when they enter the room.”
-reported in the New York Times, September 2009, attributed to an elementary school teacher
“Children will see, in the eyes of the parents and teachers who raise them, mirrors in which they discover themselves.”
–Dr. William Glasser
I once heard someone described as a person whose smile never reached her eyes. She could offer a well-practiced smile, as occasion directed, but there was no truth to it. Her smile never reached her eyes.
It is the eyes that speak true. It is the eyes that carry the message of love. And it is the eyes that carry the message of indifference, or worse.
We first connect with others through the eyes, and what we see in those eyes often results in an immediate decision—to connect further through a handshake or embrace, as custom would dictate, or to withdraw. If the eyes speak welcome, acceptance, and joy, we naturally extend ourselves through touch. If they speak disinterest, displeasure, or rejection, we may retreat within ourselves and descend into the loneliness of depression.
What do your eyes speak to the children in your world? Do they speak openness and interest, gratitude and appreciation, enthusiasm and joy? Do they send the message of love?
What do the children in your world see when they look into the mirrors that are your eyes?