Have You Taught Your Child To Look Beyond “I”?

"We all are one, we are the same person

I'll be you, you'll be me (Oh, yeah)

We all are one, same universal world

I'll be you, you'll be me"

From 'We All Are One' by Jimmy Cliff

The risk of “I-me-myself” attitude

If we look around and reflect on what world our children are growing up into, we will have more cause for worry than assurance. At the risk of sounding despondent, one can safely say that the chaos and turmoil of today’s world, coupled with its mad rush for competition and one-upmanship is creating an incalculable damage on the young minds. The damage is not visible but apparent.

Watch little children play with their favorite toys or feast on their favorite food and you will be amazed to see how few of them love to share their toys and snacks willing with their friends. The mad race and pressure to be a winner every time doesn’t let our young children accept defeat or failures with grace. It is a debilitating attitude of “I-me-myself” that is grasping the young minds from a tender age.

Allowing such attitude to flourish in our children can have dangerous effects on their personalities. An “I, me, myself” approach, to the exclusion of concern for others, leads to selfishness, conceit and egoistic attitude in later years.

Whose fault is it?

It is not the fault of children if they develop such attitude. The fault lies with the parents who pressurize them to look only at their own interests and forget about others. No parent deliberately teaches a child to be selfish. But in our hurry to make our children top achievers, we push them to their limits. We rush to make them become careful of their belongings and forget to teach them the values of sharing and caring. We tell them not to speak lies and then ask them to chase away debtors at the door by saying “Dad is not at home” when he jolly well is.

Are we not confusing them?

When you are looking for parenting tips on how to bring up your children, look for useful tips on parenting that advise you on how to instill values and wisdom in your child.

It is the parent’s responsibility

The parent’s responsibility does not begin and end with giving birth and arranging for food and shelter. Most importantly, the parents must instill good values in the children, values that teach the child about humanity, love, caring, honesty, tolerance and oneness.

Spend some time with your child everyday when you can pass on the life wisdom and good values to your child that are so very essential for becoming a good human being.

As parents, the onus is on us to help children understand that the world is one and we all are part of the same world and we should co-exist peacefully with each other.

Life wisdom that expands your child's vision and horizon

Tell your child thateven though each of us looks different, yet we all are the same. We all have feelings, we all have emotions. We all have our share of problems, we all face challenges.

At the same time, we all are unique in our own ways. Each one of us is talented. Someone may have the talent to be a great swimmer, someone could be a great dancer, some are singers, some have capabilities to write beautifully and so on. In short, we all have strengths and capabilities which make us unique.

And because of this uniqueness, we all have different roles to play in the game called life. In this world, we are part of a jigsaw puzzle. Just like in a jigsaw puzzle, one piece may not make any sense but once that piece is put together with the other pieces, they combine to give shape to a complete picture.

The bottom line is that we all are part of the one big world and we should treat other people with compassion. As we share happiness and give our love to others, that fellow can pass the love and compassion to another person and so on. Imagine how wonderful the world will become with so much love, camaraderie and happiness all around.

This is what we need to teach our children especially in present turbulent times when there is so much violence and hatred. It is essential to teach children the importance of sharing and caring about others. When your child buys a packet of chips or his/her favorite cookies, encourage him/her to share it with friends. Encourage children to give away their toys or clothes to the less fortunate children. These small acts of sharing and giving helps children develop values of kindness, sincerity, compassion, honesty and oneness.

As a parent, you have to be a role model to your children. If your children see you hold onto your wealth, how can you expect them to help others. Therefore set an example for your children to follow by donating to charities, helping neighbors and being respectful to people of different communities and races.

Show children the sheer joy of sharing and giving to the world. After all, happiness which is based on materialistic things, that happiness doesn't last long. Giving gives meaning to life and creates an abundance of joy. And it doesn’t matter how much your give or what type of thing you give. You can give your love, your time, your attention, your clothes, money or food to the poor people. All that matters is to reach out to the people with warmth and affection.

Good habits, respect for people of different communities, showing affection and appreciation with a word of praise, a hug or a smile also makes a difference. Once your child realizes the importance of earning love and affection, he/she will also realize the importance of sharing and giving the same. For this you need to practice this all yourself and in addition you need to talk to your child daily and maintain a healthy communication between you and your child. By doing all this, you can create these positive energies in your child's mind.

As you expose your child to realize the values of oneness, you will find your child becoming interested in recognizing and manifesting his/her own abilities, talents and interests. Your child will understand he/she has the power and the potential within his/her own self to nurture dreams and achieve them!

You will be amazed to find how encouraged your young one feels to participate in various activities, both in school and in the neighborhood social circles, and become an active member of young volunteer groups that work for social causes.

Nothing impacts more than images and sound. Make your child view these beautiful thoughts in images. You can watch a motivational video with your child which is designed in a way that conveys the wisdom and important life-lessons of kindness, sharing, giving, patience and how we are part of the same world and how we can help heal the world and make it a better place to live in.

These inspirational quotes videos also offer great parenting tips and assist in child development. Besides watching these motivational videos also serve as a great launching pad to start a conversation with your child and makes parenting children easier and effective.

So take the time to teach children to do something nice today. It will make your child and you feel good. When you give from your heart, you allow wonderful things to come pouring into your life. The more you give, the more you receive and the better this world will become!