Less than a month ago, "Theater cats Kuklacheva" became the first. Now the brainchild of a talented cat "educator" celebrates a quarter-century anniversary!
Yuri Kuklachev - happy husband, father and grandfatherPhoto: personal archive
Myth one: fear is good motivation.
– I hated the Soviet school.How did the teachers work there? They influenced the child with fear. Here is a teacher sitting in class one-on-one with you, no one else is there, and she knows that she can give you a bad grade. Now she will check you, and you haven’t done the assignment, and that’s it, kaput for you, you’re a talentless idiot! This is one of the reasons why I went to study at a vocational school right after the 8th grade. Fear is a complex and destructive feeling. I had a cat Bobik, who worked in the arena for ten years, and then during a rehearsal he got scared of a burst balloon. And that’s it. The animal developed such stage fright that I had to give up that number and rehearse a new one. The same thing happens with children. You can’t shout at a kitten or swing at it to make it become an artist without scaring it. So why do adults think that fear will have a beneficial effect on a child? Or these relics of the Middle Ages – bogeymen, hoki and babka-yozha, who will come and take the child if he does not eat, brush his teeth or clean the room? What nonsense! I never told my children horror stories. Nothing good will come from them! Yes, you will force the child to do something, but he will do it not because it is right or useful, but because of fear. And what kind of child will grow up? The child, on the contrary, needs to be protected from fears. Afraid of the dark? Think of a protector, remember together with the child an animal that lives at night, for example an owl, or a strong and brave bear. Buy him a soft toy and agree that as soon as you turn off the light, his friend wakes up and guards the child while he sleeps.
Spouses Elena and Yuri Kuklachev are together both at home and at work Photo: personal archive
Myth two: praise only good deeds
– Remember what a child says if hescold? Most often, a simple phrase: “You don’t love me.” I remember how my mother, if she scolded me for something, then she would always hug me and say: “But you are my own.” And my father never scolded me and always encouraged me, even if I failed at something. I entered the circus school five times, and when on the fourth I came home upset, lamenting that I can’t do anything, can’t and shouldn’t be a clown, my father said: “Yura, there is a person who believes in you, no matter what, and that’s me. And as long as at least one believes, then you will succeed.” I grew up in an atmosphere of love, my children – Dmitry, Ekaterina and Vladimir, grew up in an atmosphere of love, my grandchildren – 13-year-old Nikita and 10-year-old Nastya – are growing up in an atmosphere of love.
