An old man lives with his little grandson.Every day the old man gets up early to read books.

One day the grandson asked,“Grandpa,I want to read books as you do.But I always forget what I read.What are the advantages of reading?”

The grandfather didn’t answer him,but said,“Take this little basket to the river and bring me back a basket of water.” The boy did as his grandpa said,but all the water leaked out before he got back home.The grandfather laughed and said,“You’ll have to walk faster next time.”

The next time the boy ran faster,but the basket was still empty before he returned home.The boy said,“See,Grandpa,it’s no use!”

“Is it no use?” the old man said.“Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and found that the basket was different.It was cleaner,inside and out.

“That’s what happens when you read books.You might not understand or remember everything,but when you read them,you will be changed,inside and out.”

There was a gardener who looked after his garden with great care. To water his flowers，he used two buckets(水桶).One was a shiny and new bucket. The other was a very old and dilapidated one，which had seen many years of service，but was now past its best.

Every morning，the gardener would fill up the two buckets. Then he would carry them along the path，one on each side，to the flowerbeds. The new bucket was very proud of itself. It could carry a full bucket of water without a single drop spilled. The old bucket felt very ashamed(惭愧的)because of its holes: before it reached the flowerbeds，much water had leaked(渗漏)along the path.

Sometimes the new bucket would say，"See how capable I am! How good it is that the gardener has me water the flowers every day! I don’t know why he still uses you. What a waste of space you are!"

And all that the old bucket could say was，"I know I am not very useful，but I can only do my best. I am happy that the gardener still finds a little bit of use in me ，at least.’’

One day，the gardener heard that kind of conversation. After watering the flowers as usual，he said，"You both have done your work very well. Now I am going to carry you back，and I want you to look carefully along the path."

Then the two buckets did so. All along the path, they noticed，on the side where the new bucket was carried，there was just bare earth；on the other side where the old bucket was carried，there was a joyous row of wild flowers，leading all the way to the garden.

There are plenty of mindless activities to keep a child busy in this information age. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Alice wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.

As a writer, I know about winning contests—and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.

A revelation(启示）came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied. “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”

I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地）told them. Telling myself that I was an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.

Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting (借鉴) my daughter’s experience.

While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.