PARENTS AND CHILDREN

Parents have a tremendous responsibility in bringing up children. Children go astray mainly because of the negligence and carelessness of their parents. To a great extent their preoccupation with various other activities denies children the company of their parents! Present day attitude of children leaves much to be than all, the character of the children must be made strong and pure. Give them all the courage and confidence desired. There parents

are gone! Unity and strength shall surely be undermined by this moral decline. “More they need to become good, honest, self reliant children. It is not enough if they learn something by which they can make a living; the manner of living is more important than the standard of living.”Counsels Bhagawan  Sri Sri Satya Sai Baba in one of his Divine discourses. (SSS Vol 5). Parents are worried about the future of children and engage themselves in accumulating riches. They want their children to live happily.

In trying to secure their material life, they forget to inculcate the most important sense of values! The father should not merely lecture on values but set an example by practice. Swami says that children should be taught to live like lotuses in the lake of samsara or family life. The speciality of the lotus is that it is in water but is not affected by it! Though they cannot live out of water, they do not allow water to enter. Swami exhorts that children can live in samsara but take care that samsara is not in them! Children are the best imitators. They implicitly mimic the activities of their parents. If the children are disobedient or disrespect elders or have no faith in God, it is because of the behavior of their parents. There is no need to blame children for these acts. Hence the significance of living a Dharmic or righteous life laid down by our scriptures and sastras. How can the son be cured if his father is aq drunkard or a gambler or a cheat? Children should not be allowed total freedom.Parents should have an eye on all their activities.Total unbridled freedom is detrimental to their future. Evil company and indulging in pleasures shall ruin them.

How about children? They are of very highly impressionable. Childhood and youth are precious and should not be wasted or improperly spent. Horror stories, stories of crime, porn should be avoided   compulsorily. Life is not a bed of roses. It is also not a bed of thorns. Whatever be the troubles and turmoil, children should not stray from the path of duty. “Children are charming saplings, full of promise. who can be made,  by wise care and well directed love, to blossom into ideal citizens”says Swami in his Divine discourse. The most crucial part is the earlier years when the father and the mother are responsible for the upbringing of the child. It is during these crucial years that the foundation is laid for the skills, the attitude, the prejudices, and the emotions of the child. This is the time that the child’s character is built! Children can be compared to the crops growing on the fields. The harvest of these crops sustains the nation. They are the bedrock of the nation and it is on their young and strong shoulders that that the nation rests!

All work and no play makes  children dull and disgusted. Their food and play must be regulated.  It is of paramount importance that they develop a sound mind in a sound body! Why regulation in food? It is because Food dictates the health, intelligence, emotions and impulses. Care must be taken to ensure the quality and quantity of food, the number of times it is taken and the timings. Recreational activity should be elevating and moral and in the company of the righteous. Children by nature are innocent and tender. They should not be spoiled by association. The friends they have exert a lot influence on them. “Tell me your friends and I will tell you what you are” is a well known statement.`

Mother’s influence on children is greater than that of the father. It is said that there is a woman behind the greatness of every man. We know the adage “ The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” Children love their mother and she can easily put her child in the right path. Children should never be handed over to child caretakers! The greatest disadvantage is that they lose the love of the mother, the most essential component for growth and development. Children  shouid   not receive anything without hard work. They have to earn and qualify themselves to receive anything. Every individual should remember that if he gives joy to his parents, his children shall return the joy in his declining years and senility!