Thursday, December 5, 2013

Development of Children – Our Role in Bringing about Holistic Life for Them.

Bringing up a child has many facets to it. Applying ourselves to them with deepened awareness can enrich our lives to the point of making it joyous for everyone. Many parents are concerned about the welfare of the child and it is mistaken for love. The concern is part of self-interest and does not reflect a feeling for the child per se. The right attention will be given to the child only when one is not using the child for one’s own ego satisfaction. Emotional attachment can harm the child and the parent. Where there is true love, there is no room for the ego to get involved.

Treating the child as a human being in its own right would mean that it is not sacrificed to a system, no matter how intelligent the system may be. Further, as J. Krishnamurti says, the child will not be conditioned to be conformists by the truly loving parents and teachers. They will see to it that the child blossoms like a flower, unimpeded. Here we note what Khalil Gibran has to say about children:

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

The school and the home are the two predominant places where the young child is exposed to the world. If there is loving atmosphere at those places, children can grow into wholesome human beings. It is to be noted that the child comes first and then its education. In other words, it is education for the child, not the other way around. In many parts of the world, this aspect is not given the vital importance that it deserves. When it does get the right attention, everything is influenced by the tender feeling towards the child. Then, we won’t overload the child with heavy syllabus and heavier books! The subjects will be taught in a succinct way so that the child catches the essence of them rather than be lost in the details. The information overloading (especially with a lot of unnecessary things) will be out.

When the atmosphere at school is on such fostering grounds, there would be no need for any punishment. Improper behavior would be minimal and they can be handled without the child feeling condemned or rejected. A few schools are coming up along those lines in India and other countries under the name of ‘Alternative Education’. They can help the child imbibe such qualities as empathy, compassion, mirthfulness, emotional stability, and respect for all cultures. There would be an adventurous attitude towards life. They would consider themselves as citizens of the world rather than be lost in some parochial narrow-mindedness; would show interest in understanding the deeper currents of life instead of emotionally clinging to belief systems looking for satisfaction and security. They can appreciate their position on this planet in a cosmological context through attention to such esoteric subjects as astronomy, anthropology and paleontology. Such children would surely bring about global harmony and augment joyous living on this planet.

Related matters are covered in the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com

The Winding Path

The Winding Path
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