It is an uphill task bringing up children with ever increasing competition. Parents tend to workout multiple permutation and combinations in trying to script a block buster run. This means success, name, fame, luxuries, monies etc.. Parents aspire for a prodigy child. The trend to get instant gratification has become an epidemic in the society.
Where is this all leading to? Are you pushing yourselves to the walls thus leading to breed children to be lead to the slaughter houses of the so called competitive world? Are we looking to make our children vending machines of the various pseudo expectations of life?
Where is this all stemming from?
Displaced expectations and understanding.
What is it expected of a parent to deliver?
The individual is the fundamental building block of any family, society or country. How well it is built defines his actions in the multifarious roles he adorns.
Dream of making your child a man of institution. Self-reliant, bold and confident, an achiever all through, in his own chosen way. Have a broad vision of his life and not just few milestones of success.
How does one achieve it?
Mature and objective mentoring is the way.
Parents tend to look at their children to realizing their unfulfilled dreams. Do not be unfair to impose one's expectations on your children. Never compare a child with another. There is a spark in every child and is unique in nature. Understand their latent talents. Mould and groom them. Teach them to get inspired and not compete. Competition may lead to developing hatred, distastefulness and aversion. Inspirations are more profound in their impact bringing bountiful results over a life span.
Provide the child the necessary breeding ground where values can be inculcated. Focus on character building. A strong value system and bold character would have placed the fundamental building blocks of life. With these in place and constant grooming, fortifies the systems. Provide an environment nurturing positive and un-bracketed thinking.
Do not just fix lofty goals and expectations. Work on the means to achieve them. Putting them in a pricy school or a professional day care, doesn’t relieve you of your responsibilities. You are squarely responsible for the development of the child.
Any education should empower an individual. By education I do not mean the schools alone. It is the collective responsibility of the family, society and the institutions that contribute to the metamorphosis of the individual. It should give him the knowledge and wisdom to see and face life and not just a repository of information. Make him self-reliant and confident. Such an individual by his sheer power will be an achiever in life. Application of many of the principles comes as the child grows.
Recent upheavals in the Financial markets globally has shown how men educated from some of the most acclaimed and prestigious institutions of the world worked themselves through disgraceful practices.
Institutions do not make great individuals but individuals make great institutions.
To quote Abraham Lincoln,
"Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing."
