"Perseverance leads to success.”

– Moral from ‘The tortoise and the hare’, Aesop Fables

Dear parents, 

Over my many years of teaching, I have derived a lot of joy from asking young students to write an alternative ending or epilogue to some well-known stories such as ‘The Tortoise and The Hare’ from Aesop Fables.  While most teachers might conclude telling the fable by highlighting the importance of perseverance as the key to success, some students are reluctant to see themselves as the slow though persistent tortoise, so they would come up with a different ending.  Here are a few awe-inspiring ideas from these ingenious students.

The first one, the least creative but apparently mainstream, is that the hare decided to make amends and chose not to rest until crossing the finish line.  Therefore, the hare won every race against the tortoise.  However, as one student added, the hare was stressed out as he was too hard on himself and wanted to win by a bigger margin every time, so he ended up having depression.   

“How can we help the anxious hare?” I asked them. One girl wrote, ‘The hare resolved to have work-life balance and set an alarm to rest for 2 minutes after running for 10 minutes, thereby winning every race and staying relaxed.’  Not satisfied with this happy ending, another boy wrote, ‘The hare found it monotonous and cushy to race against the slow tortoise, so he opted to challenge the leopard, only to lose by a small margin and got eaten by his opponent in the end!’

“Can the slow tortoise win at all?”  I enquired.  Some die-hard fans of the tortoise came up with some witty storylines.  One wrote, ‘The tortoise asked the hare to go with him to the mountain top and race down the hill.  The race started and the hare started running frantically, only to find the tortoise tuck his head and feet into the shell and roll past him to the finish line.  The tortoise won even though the hare did not rest this time.’

“Isn’t that not fair?  The tortoise didn’t really make much effort but simply had an advantage because of his unique features.”  In response, a boy said. “The tortoise chose a long race path this time.  As expected, the hare ran at his full speed and didn’t dare to rest, hoping to attain a complete victory against the tortoise.  However, his dreams shattered as he edged towards a lake that separated him from the finish line.  As the hare couldn’t swim, he waited nervously until the tortoise slowly appeared and swam leisurely past the finish line.”

“Who do you want to be in the story, the tortoise or the rabbit?” I asked my students.  Before being asked to think of an alternative ending, most students would choose to be the determined tortoise.  However, their choices became varied as they started to appreciate the respective talents of the tortoise and the hare.   It is not who they are but how they fully utilize their talents in the right way that will determine their success.  

Who do you want your child to be in the story?  While teaching our child to be persistent like the tortoise, most of us hope that our child is fast like the rabbit.  Some of us even wish that the rabbit could swim, which is impossible.  In fact, both the hare and the tortoise could win, provided that they choose the right path.  Don’t force your child to swim if your child is a rabbit.  If your child is a tortoise, don’t force her to run and tell her that she could win against the rabbit if she perseveres.  Find a lake for her to swim or a mountain top for her to roll down. 

Be clever parents so that your child won’t waste energy doing things they can never excel.  Instead, help them recognize and fully utilize their talents to thrive.  Most importantly, don’t stress them out so that they can stay happy.  Have a great summer!