Daddy in distress

Alisha and her father had a habit of going for a walk every day in the evening after her father came back from the office. They used to play together, walk, and chat with each and so going for walk became a positive habit for both of them.

One day, when Alisha’s father came from the office he had a very disturbed look on his face. He had some issues in his office because of which he was very stressed. Alisha didn’t observe this, so she went to her father and said, “Dad! Go and get fresh quickly, we have to go for walk.” Her dad was in no mood of going for the walk, so he replied “Alisha, I am a little tired today, we will go for the walk tomorrow.” Alisha got very upset hearing this, she held her father’s hand and started pulling it, shouting “Not tomorrow, I want to go today.” Her father, already a little disturbed, snatched his hand and replied angrily “I said that we will go tomorrow, now go to your room.” Alisha got sad and started crying as she ran to her room. 

Obviously, Alisha was very upset about her dad’s behavior. But she had this question in mind as to why her father behaved so differently today. Was he really tired or was there some other reason for this abnormal move by him? She went to her mom and told her what had happened. She asked her mother, “What happened to father? Why is he behaving differently today?” Her mom stated that his father was a little stressed out today as he had an argument with his boss in the office. That was the reason why he got a little harsh with her and avoided going for the walk. He needed some time to calm down. Alisha questioned, “How did you know that he was upset? Did he tell you?” Her mom replied, “ No, he didn’t tell me, I just observed it.” Alisha curiously asked, “How? What did you observe, mummy?” Her mother explained, “By looking at someone you can understand the mood they are in. People behave differently in a good mood as compared to when they are in a bad mood”.

“We should realize in what mood people are in order to know how they might behave” her mother added. Alisha realized that she should have understood in what mood her father was before communicating with him. Once she got this, she decided to cheer up her father so she made him a nice card and slipped it through the door of his room.

What did we learn

Our actions can be inspired by our feelings. It is important to understand the emotion of a person to better interact with them. Observing their body language can help us to understand this.