the little red hen revisited

When I was a child we had a black and white tv, there was not such thing as dvds, computers were what they used to send the men to the moon and records were what I loved to listen to.  My favourite was the story of the little red hen.  I'll do it myself was a real motto for me.  (I suppose as a child hens were an important part of life, my granny had a hen house and hens, her cousin had the most beautiful bantams you could imagine, so exotic looking.)  Anyway we were discussing a problem the other day, my ex, my teenager and me.  I was explaining how the problem could be dealt with and x was saying that it was impossible.  Teenager piped up if anyone can do it mam can.  I listened to this and asked her to expand.  She said she saw other people try to do things and fail and then when I tried I succeeded.  My dad used to say just tell her she cant do it and she will get it done in no time.  I love to undertake challenges of doing things other people would not bother with, I love to challenge myself, but I think that the fun I got from problem solving was nothing compared to the fun of not problem solving.  I have learned how to be the anti-little-red-hen.  Perhaps if I show her that even superwoman  can crash and burn, she will feel that her efforts are hers and that she does not have to live up to the ideal of being a perfect superwoman.  I did not know any children's stories about the joys of being an imperfectionistas a child, the joys of being average, or even the joys of being different but the one I love most that I used to read to my children is Giraffes cant dance.  I thought I could not dance, again not a metaphor, but when I was around 27 I went to two different types of dance  classes, traditional and modern and I found that I was a very passable dancer, I could follow steps but not freestyle.  

My children grew up with the idea that I was superwoman, mother and father to them for a while, so much so that she called me her unbearded father.  I am not superwoman.  I am not the little red hen.  I now have evidence to the contrary of that.  I can finally receive help and just as I am rewriting my life, I can rewrite the story and message of the little red hen.  I am not alone, I can ask for help, there is always someone out there that can help and is willing to do so.  Why was it so hard for so long to ask please can you help me.  the first time I truly understood that phrase was when my polish neighbour, who has not so much English, had no  water at Christmas.  His English was not very good but he was able to say please can you help me perfectly.  It must be one of the most important phrases we can learn in any language.  I can ask where are the toilets in 5 languages as this is the most important phrase I need when travelling and also, where is the train station, but why did I never think of that most important phrase Please can you help me.  
So for all of you out there that dont know how to ask for help here is a selection of the phrase in different languages:
An feider leat caibhru liom le do thoil?
Parsome galite man padeti?
Proze mozesz mi pomoc?
Sil vous plait pouvez-vous me aider?
os gwelwch yn dda allwch chi fy helpu?
Bitte können Sie mir helfen?




Today practice asking for help even when you dont need it just so that you can ask when you do.


Happy Thursday and go off and have yourself a bit of a dance.