Parenting.
It’s to raise a life. It’s to raise your child. How do we do it? Well, there are several experts on this. They’d be quite helpful if you go and seek their expertise on this.
However, I’m here(as a father) to just put forward the things that perhaps help us in becoming the best that we can be.
For me, three steps need to be implemented in a periodic cycle.
1st step – Guide
This is the first stage. We guide them with our perceptions of life. This happens when the child is young. They’ll need specific guidance to be groomed. Giving guidance doesn’t mean teaching remember. There are several ways to give guidance. Be it habitual, oral, creative and so on.
2nd step – Friend
This is the second one. We become more of their friend. A well-wisher, a mentor. This is when they’re starting their professional careers as youth. During this time, it is very important to remember not to slap one’s ideas on the child. They’ll have their own ideas about life by then. Dreams of achieving many a thing. We should try and make them feel comfortable enough to be able to come and discuss their things with us then.
3rd step – Philosopher
This is the last step. This is the step where we don’t need to do much. The child, probably a father or a mother by then will understand the principles, the ideals you either live or lived by in his or her own way. For this stage, all we have to do is to live our own lives as consciously as possible.
In the end, the child understands in his or her own way. The way which to some extent gets shaped by the parents’ way of living. Remember, ultimately in black and white sense, we give birth to another human being first before they become our sons and daughters. That human being will always have his or her own set of beliefs, conceptions-misconceptions and so on. The trick is to remain attached without being too attached. I know it is tough but meditation can actually help with that.
Then a parent can look at his or her child as a human being first. Then a parent can come to decisions regarding his or her child in a much clearer way.
Om Shanti….?