Reading the World Before Facing It: Is Your Child Ready to Face the World?

Learning Forward Retreat, 14-16 July 2026, at the Fig Tree Cottage in Dehradun

We are delighted to host educators from Sunbeam Schools - Suncity, Bhawanpur, Lahartara and Varuna; and the Aasara Trust for an immersive learning experience. Discover more at www.LFIN.Academy.

Having seen many kids grow up in a residential educational setting. As an educator myself, I wonder whether we prepare our children only to score high marks or to face the world outside.

Is Your Child Ready to Face the World? by Dr Anupam Sibal gave me ample time to think about this subject.

The most important thing about this book was that it took us from academic excellence to character excellence in a refreshing way. In times when we measure success by marks and ranks alone, this book reminds us of the significance of humility, courage, compassion, gratitude, honesty, and forgiveness in life.

I was impressed by the chapter titled Humility because it showed that, regardless of how much we know, there is still more to learn and someone from whom we can learn. This helps us educators stay open to new thoughts and perspectives.

Handling Pressure is a particularly relevant topic in today’s world. It reinforced my belief that resilience and emotional well-being should be considered equally important as the quality of performance at school.

Among all the chapters, Making Mistakes and Accepting Flaws impressed me the most. We tend to teach our kids to aim for excellence, but it is rarely achieved that way. One learns by making mistakes, analysing them, and trying again.

Chapters on Compassion, Giving, and Making Others Happy made me realise that our ultimate goal as educators is not to make kids more knowledgeable and successful academically, but to make them better people. The intelligence will open many doors, but only your attitude towards other people will show how you use them. But I think the most important message the book conveyed to me was expressed in the chapters on Gratitude and Forgiveness. In a world where everyone tries to acquire something, gratitude shows how much we can appreciate what we have, and forgiveness frees us from hate and anger. As an educator, I understood that our ultimate goal is not just to teach children to pass exams, but also to prepare them for their lives and relationships with others.

If I were to summarise my learning from this book in one sentence, it would be:

The world does not merely need successful individuals; it needs compassionate, resilient, honest, and responsible human beings.

Reading this book has strengthened my belief that the real purpose of education is not simply to help children make a living, but to help them make a life.

And perhaps that is the true answer to the question the book asks:

Is our child ready to face the world?

The answer depends not only on what they know, but on who they become.

out preparing for life.

 - Deeba Naqvi, Apeksha Malviya and Anurag Khanna from Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, Varanasi, and Manisha Bhandari from the Aasara Trust at Dehradun.

Courage and Patience Part 2 - KNPS Phagwara

 Kajal Sharma

Courage and Patience: Powerful Tools

1. Courage and patience are two essential traits, Which grow within oneself to make the base.

2. Courage requires making everything settle,
   Patience can give us positivity by giving us a great battle.

3. Courage and patience give us a way towards success, As it reduces the work’s stress.

4. These traits are like magic, Making our life cool and dynamic.

5. Let’s apply courage and patience in the circle of life, To go with the flow and reduce crime.

   - Poonam Rani

Raman Sood

In the depths of trials, where darkness looms, Courage ignites, dispelling gloom. A flickering flame, bold and bright, Guiding souls through the darkest night.

Patience, a virtue, a steadfast grace, A gentle current in life's tumultuous race. With steady resolve, it softly whispers, Navigating obstacles like skilled river blisters.

Courage rises, a warrior's might, Facing fears, ready to fight. With bravery as its trusted shield, It conquers doubt, refusing to yield.

Patience, a companion, serene and wise, In stillness, it learns as time flies. It endures through trials and tribulations, Embracing delays, steadfast and sure.

Courage and patience are inseparable, Hand in hand, a testament, rare. Together they embolden the human soul, Leading us forward and making us whole.

So let us embrace these divine virtues. In courage and patience, our spirits align. In the face of adversity's wrath, We shall find strength on life's arduous path.

- Reena Sisodia

In the face of fear, courage stands tall, With a heart so strong, it never will fall. 

It whispers, "Keep going, don't lose your way, For every storm, there's a brighter day."

Courage is not about being without fear, But facing it bravely, with strength sincere. 

It's taking a leap when doubts arise, Trusting your instincts, and reaching for the skies.

Patience, a virtue, oh so profound, Like a sturdy oak tree, deeply rooted in the ground. 

It teaches us to wait, to endure and believe, That every setback, we can still achieve.

Patience is calmness, a tranquil stream, In the face of chaos, it keeps our dreams. 

It whispers, "Be steady, don't rush ahead, For great things come to those who tread."

Together, courage and patience intertwine, Guiding us forward, their light will shine. 

With courage, we face challenges unknown, With patience, we wait, and our seeds are sown.

So let us embrace these virtues each day, As we navigate life's winding way. 

We'll conquer mountains with courage and patience as our guide, our spirits will glide.

Seema Rani

Quality and Love - Nandini Arora

Quality is a characteristic or feature that someone or something has. Quality means no compromising. It can also be defined as hard work, sincerity, diligence, discipline and most importantly, the can-do attitude. Quality is something that we maintain to secure our future. Quality is not what we serve; it is the result. It is the result of continuous efforts. It is our responsibility to maintain the qualities and to get better day by day. Someone said it right-Quality is when the customer returns and the product doesn’t.

Quality means doing the right things, even when no one is watching us. If the quality of our thoughts is good, we always remain happy. The life that we live depends on the quality of our contribution towards our life and work. Our quality reflects us; it shows what we are. Living a quality of life matters though, many of us chase quantity instead of quality. A positive attitude helps us to maintain quality. Quality is an ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by anticipating and fulfilling stated and implied needs.

Love means showing affection, compassion and concern towards others. It means showing care for others, respecting and forgiving others and being kind to others. Love is the foundation of all relationships and values.  Love means giving, not expecting; we always gain when we love.

Love is unspoken; it is always shown and felt. Loving someone and being loved is a great feeling. True love is when you love someone and do not expect the same in return. But there is a difference between love and like; when we like someone, we want them, and when we love someone, we set them free.

Loving people live the happiest lives. They are kind and patient. They do not envy and boast. They are never rude or selfish. They let go the past mistakes and are always ready to accept them.

Beautiful lines by Mother Teresa-“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Thus, Quality and Love are the great virtues we all should have to live our lives happily. Love is the language of life. So, stop being judgemental and have the Quality of Being loving because True love never hurt others, even lift others.

- Nandini Arora, The Doon Girls School 

Be Virtuous and Sensible - Sharmila Vijayvargi

My Book of Positive Thoughts by Anil Kumar

Virtuous persons are those who adopt a high moral standard. Their behaviour is morally good and desirable, and their character is a bundle of virtues. Such persons are sensible, that is, they are wise and prudent. They can distinguish between the right and the wrong and always stand by and for the right.

We should do our best to be virtuous and sensible. Simplicity, humility, love, compassion, politeness and courtesy are the hallmarks of a virtuous and a sensible person. We should develop them in us. We must not allow anger, hatred, pride, boastfulness, meanness and evil thoughts to affect our virtues and sensibility. 

Our virtues and sensibility get expressed in our manners and etiquette. We are nothing but our manners and etiquette, which our conduct always exhibits wherever we go and whatever we do. For a start, we must learn to be always cheerful, polite and courteous in our behaviour. We ought to obey and respect our parents, elders and teachers and everyone around us. Little words of gestures such as 'please', 'thanks', and excuse me for making our speech courteous.

We must also avoid criticizing others for any reason. If we must disapprove of others'  unbecoming behaviour, we must choose our words carefully. Unnecessary criticism of others can seriously affect our relationships. We have no right to indulge in scandalous talk about others and spoil their name and harm their reputation. Since ours is a democratic country, people are free to have different views, opinions and beliefs. 

Therefore, we may disagree with others on all matters, but we must respect the freedom of thought and expression. We must learn to understand and appreciate the views of others, and for this, we should develop the fine art of listening to others with patients and compassion.

Finally, a word about our speech: a polite and courteous speech is an index of our mind and character. It can win us friends, respect and a good reputation and if it is the other way round, we may develop a lot of enemies around us. Therefore, always be polite, courteous and well mannered. 

Sharmila Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School

svi@fabindiaschools.in

Humility and Appreciation - Bharti Rao

Humility is the mother of all virtues. It means to be humble and take care and think of others than your own self. If you are humble and down to earth you create a peaceful and healthy environment. Humble people always see better things in everyone, when someone makes any mistakes they forgive them. Humility is a difficult trait as you need to think about others and not boast about yourself and say ‘I’ every time. Instead, we should learn to give the credit to our teammates for success even though we have the ability to do it yourself.

Great Leaders like Mr Ratan Tata, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, A.G.P. Abdul Kalam etc. are the personalities who possess these attributes. If any institution wants to grow, the head and staff need to change themselves and be humble. Humbleness helps us to connect with the community. If we embrace the quality of humility, then only we will be able to appreciate others’ efforts. If you inculcate this quality, you will be apologetic for the mistakes you commit. Appreciation is the trait where you show gratitude, praise others and give recognition to other’s work. This quality helps to develop a feeling of togetherness.

An educator plays a very important role in shaping a child’s personality and this can only be possible if he is humble and understandable. Appreciation plays an important role in a student’s life. If a child is appreciated he feels motivated. This motivation and appreciation bring enthusiasm and excitement to complete his task. Educators are always the role models of their students. If their educator possesses these qualities, then the child tends to inculcate these qualities in them. I end with quoting the words of Gordon B. Hinckley,” Being Humble means recognizing that we are not on Earth to see how important we can become but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others”.

Bharti Rao 
The Fabindia School 

bro@fabindiaschools.in

Humility and Appreciation - Ajay Vijayvargi

Pride makes us artificial;

Humility makes us real.

-Thomas Merton

Humility is the mother of all virtues, it's true as, if we are modest then we will never consider

ourselves to be better than others. In a workplace each one is important. Our workplace is a classroom, where we often find there are some students who are boastful and they think themselves to be superior, now this may be due to family status, personality, appearance, intelligence –there can be lot many reasons but it is the duty of the educator to treat all students equally and explain to them that each one of us is human beings and we are created equal by the almighty. 

If one student is good in one field others can be good in some other skill such as sports, skill (music, drawing etc). So they should be thought to be aware of their own limitations, have self-control, not to tease others, make others feel inferior by their words or deeds.

Secondly, they should be thought to appreciate others which are art, it acts as a motivation for everyone especially students, as it shows one's character and appreciation and motivation has great power in itself as it can change negative thoughts into a positive one.

Thus we see that an educator can play a very vital role in developing moral values in students who in turn will inculcate in themselves will turn them into a good individual for the family, society and nation as a whole.

Ajay Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School

avi@fabindiaschools.in