He told me what a wonderful job I was doing. He kept me motivated with crazy stories of what he did when he was a kid or just by smiling. His smile would light a rom and pass to everyone around him. He was like a full animal, easy to hug and keep my secrets safe. He was the first man I loved and the one I always looked up to. He did everything for me, but the one he did best was being my dad.

My dad made me a believer in myself. I would always give up too soon, right before l got the answer. Some nights he would sit with me to help me believe myself with examples that he had gone through. Those nights were the worst! I struggled so hard and tried not to get upset at myself.

He loved to tell jokes and had one for every occasion. He loved to make people laugh. He acted as if it were his goal in life to make people laugh. There was never a dull moment when he was in the room. To everyone he was the jokester, but to me, a sensitive girl, he was something more than words could describe. My dad knew everything. He excelled at everything he did; raising two beautiful and smart children was only one.

To my brother and me, he was in a way our hero, always picking us up after our knees were injured. Any tear was wiped away by a large warm, comforting hand. He influenced us with his knowledge. My dad, as well as my mother, influenced us to achieve everything we try in life. He made everything he did look like it required no effort at all. His words of encouragement still ring in my head to this day even after his passing. I still know today that he will always encourage me just not in the same way.

Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia(栀子花) was delivered to my house. No card came with it. 【小题1】 After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender's name and just delighted in the beautiful white flower in soft pink tissue paper.

【小题2】 Some of my happiest moments were spent day-dreaming about the sender. My mother encouraged these imaginings.【小题3】 Perhaps it was the old man across the street whose mail I'd delivered during the winter. As a girl, though, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I had run into.

【小题4】 I felt so sad that I became completely uninterested in my upcoming graduation dance, and I didn't care if I had a new dress or not. But my mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved and lovable. In truth, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia-lovely, strong and perfect with perhaps a bit of mystery.【小题5】 I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.

When children do something wrong, parents expect an apology. Children often try to read their parents’ mind or butter up (奉承) their parents by saying, “I’m sorry”. Even though they did not do anything wrong, they will act in that way because they are scared to make their parents angry. Children always look timid (胆小的) because they have been anxious or nervous about being punished by parents.

When parents force them to apologize, they will lose the opportunity to think by themselves why they should apologize or what was wrong. So, how can we make them understand properly what was wrong?

If parents never give children a chance and say something like, “That’s not good” or “Say you’re sorry”, children cannot learn to reflect their behavior. So, the first thing that parents should do is listening to their children, asking questions such as what happened, why they did it. Once children have their parents’ attention and feel at ease, they can easily accept their parents’ words.

Children do not have enough skill to tell good or bad things, therefore, it is necessary for parents to teach them what was wrong. When parents explain what was wrong to children, short and simple words should be used as much as possible. Moreover, it would be more effective to tell children what kind of behavior makes parents feel a certain way. For example, it would be good to express mom’s feelings with something like “When you hit me, mommy will get hurt.” “When you call me stupid, I feel sad.”

In this way, children can understand that they hurt mom or they make her sad, therefore, they will become able to apologize naturally. That would be more understandable for children why their behavior was wrong than being scolded by parents something like “Hitting is not good!” “You cannot say stupid to someone else.”

Many people believe that children are too young to understand what parents say, however, children actually can understand a parents, feeling if parents use simple words and speak calmly. Parents should avoid speaking one-sidedly and always try to listen to children. Talking to each other would be the best way.