Word Wall vs Pokemon or Customer is King

When taking on a new venture, it is not all about money, it is about the idea being accepted. And if an Idea has to be accepted by a six year old, it had better be good. That day my idea was "Word Wall". This is from a year back, I attended a session at my daughter's school, on how to teach your child to read and spell. One of the suggestions that I particularly loved was the "word wall". A wall with words that child finds difficult to spell. A little bit of googling got me a list of "sight words", words that cannot be spelled just with the phonetics. I decided I would begin with some of them. As they challenge even adults. Thanks to Microsoft word, my spelling skills are not put to test anymore. But children can still master the spelling skill. Because they are in that age when their learning skills are still being put to test. I thought I will not let my daughter fumble for spellings in Google. I must do something constructive. And so I created her first word wall.

The first lesson of parenting that I have learnt is that, the child knows how to say 'NO'. And she can surprise you with her NOs. But I seem to be a slow learner. So here is what happened with the word wall and a tough customer.

I took out some chart papers and asked my daughter, 'Chiku wouldn't you like to have a "Word Wall". Chiku is my favourite nickname for her. It sounded like a fun idea to her, so she said yes. But she was quite busy drawing Pokemon characters ('Nock Towel' to be precise) on her own, so she did not bother to assist me. Oh... I was excited about it, I couldn't wait for her to be done with the drawing. Having done my market research, I was determined to make a Word Wall that very day. Isn't this relentless pursuit for the desired object, a characteristic of children? We never grow up after all! I jumped at the opportunity. I asked her to help with cutting the chart papers in the right size. But she did not hear or answer. Time and again she was trying to find out how her Pokemon was coming up. I took it as her consent and went ahead with cutting up the chart papers. I showed her the exact place I wanted to stick them. And she said yes. I asked her to help but she did not bother with that either. She was now admiring her Pokemon and giving finishing touches to it. I said, "Okay let me do it" And so I did... And what else, I even wrote down two word groups in the chart paper, by the time she was done with the Pokemon picture. And here is what happened. She looked up at the Word Wall and at her Pokemon and announced, "I want to stick my Pokemon at this place, Remove the Word Wall now." 

In her mind Pokemon had more aesthetic value than the Word Wall. And somewhere within, she was also trying to test, if this was my ploy to teach her new things. Reluctance and resistance to learn is not an acquired skill after all.

Oh I was so satisfied with my effort, a perfect product in my mind, I was really disappointed with the way she simply refused to accept the Word Wall. "But I asked you darling," I protested. She chose to ignore that statement. 'Customer is King!' and she was my customer at the moment. She was certain that the Word Wall did not hold the same importance, as her fine Pokemon art work. And if I considered the particular place as ideal for the Word Wall, then that had to be the best for her art. I realised that all my convincing, protesting and negotiating would not work on little darling today. She had made her choice and she would not change her mind. She did not buy my idea. Does it not happen with many products too? They do well in market research, but when it comes to paying for the product, the customer refuses to accept it.

I realised, a change in strategy was needed urgently, after some amount of chagrin and arguing. And even thumping foot, particularly when the little one was about to tear off the chart papers dispassionately, when I refused to remove it. So I just made way. I removed the charts and let her stick the Pokemon instead, but moved the charts to another part of the room.

I was afraid the Word wall had lost out to Pokemon, even before I had the chance to try the idea. And then, once Chiku was done with appreciating her art in its victorious spot, she turned to the Word Wall quite spontaneously and almost immediately, she was asking questions about it... The word wall may still have a chance. Advertising and marketing strategies are inevitable in building customer acceptance for a new product!