One time effort

I have a colleague who is into testing. This person hardly knew about java and coding. The basic things were known but just that any given task in java would be difficult to implement. By the way, QC need not know coding unless and unless testing is done properly and has domain knowledge.

Now this person was moved to automating testing some time back. This requires a bit of coding skills and understanding the existing implementation as well. Initially the person faced difficulties and used to come to me for help with logic, constructs and debugging and I used to solve the problems This person kept coming back with problems. At that moment I understood where I went wrong.

I used to solve the problems but didn't explain it. Then I started explaining
1. What the problem was
2. How did it occur.
3. How to solve it.

Over the period of time, this person rarely comes to me with issues. Did you understand why ?

The answer is - I had put an one time effort of teaching how to solve problems rather than solving them. The effort could be of one hour, one day or even a month. But it would be just one off.

The same thing applies to everybody immaterial of age. Yes, you read it right. It applies to children as well. Children will take longer time, obviously, but it would still be one time effort. 

For example: Making children have food by themselves. What we do is keep feeding the children for various  reasons. The reasons could be quite genuine, I understand. But I still insist, teach your child how to eat. It will be one time effort. Later the child will enjoy eating and parents will be more than happy telling his/her friends that his/her child has food by himself/herself.

This is just one example. There could be many bigger problems in our children's life. We can't stand by them every time. They have to fight by themselves. If we would have taught them the basics, our child will give a try before coming for a help.