Growing Pains

Every child has the necessary intelligence to live in this world. You just create an atmosphere for him to grow into his intelligence rather than super-imposing your ideas upon him. When it comes to influencing him, the teachers will have a role, his friends and other sections of society will also have some influence upon him. You cannot help it.

You cannot build a sanatorium for your child. Still, as a parent, you can play a very important role in allowing the child's intelligence to grow. Firstly if you think that when a child is born it is time to teach, then you will ruin the child. When a child comes into your life, it is time to learn because you have missed much in your life. So much of your life has become distorted.

A child is just there looking at life fresh. You sit with him and look at life fresh. The only thing that you can do to your child is to give him love and support. Create a loving atmosphere for him where intelligence will naturally flower. Your child need not do what you did in life.

Your child should do something that you did not even dare to think in your life. Your child should do what you did not even have the courage to think about. Only then this world will progress and something will happen.

How should you bring up a child? In whichever situation he is put, he should be able to live joyously. That is the way he should be brought up. But people think that to bring up a child lovingly means to get him everything that he asks for. That is a very stupid of bringing up a child. If you look at your child with intelligence, can you not see that to get him everything that he asks for is sheer stupidity? But to this, you have given the name ‘love.’

If you want to bring up your child well, the first thing is, you should be happy. But you, by yourself, do not know how to be happy. In your house everyday there is a demonstration of tension, anger, fear, anxiety and jealousy. These are the only things being demonstrated to your child. What will happen to him?

He will learn only these things. If you really have the intention of bringing up your child well, you must first change your way of being. You should change yourself to be a loving, joyous and peaceful being. If you do not know how to keep yourself as a joyous, peaceful and loving human being, what can you do for your child? Your child will only imbibe your tensions, anger, anxiety and all the other nonsense.

If you are incapable of transforming yourself, where is the question of you bringing up your child? So if you are really concerned about your child, first you must be willing to transform yourself.