Raising Children - Part 1

This will not be the only time I speak on the subject of raising children. As I watch what is happening to the children of the world, I can’t help but think something is very wrong. The children we are rearing are becoming more and more self centered, egotistical and their morals and ethics are dwindling.

I’ve seen four year old children slap their mothers because the child was refused something in a supermarket. We all see babies bringing guns and drugs to school. We watch as adolescents murder their teachers and schoolmates. And the horror of it is that children like these will one day be in charge of this country and as an extension, our lives. Children have lost their place in the order of the world.

Perhaps I should have called this, the place for children or something of that nature because this is about the place that children hold in the world, based upon a more objective reality, as opposed to the subjective one that we cling to.

Most of us make the mistake of making our children the center of our world. Why do I call this a mistake? Simply because I believe it is! We order our daily lives to surround our children and their needs and in the process create an illusion that they are of primary importance in the world. They are not! Our children are just one more cog in the wheel that makes the world turn!

Granted, without children the world as we know it would cease to exist; but if children do not learn to understand their place in this world, it will cease to exist as we know it.

I believe that the creation of this illusion is why our children are growing up deluded about their place and function in the world. Our misguided love and compassion for our children are creating monsters that we do not know how to deal with.

Because we love them so much, we don’t want to see them, hurt, suffer or refused anything in life. Therefore, we spend all of our time and energy in trying to create a world for them where this appears to be true. Then, when they get out into the real world, (i.e., the one based on objective reality) they’re not prepared!

They become angry with you, though unconsciously, for not preparing them. They become angry at the world, for not bending to their wills, and they become angry with themselves, for not having the ability to bend the world to their will! Further, in this deluded state, they often become manipulative, egocentric and abusive! And we wonder why things are getting more and more confused with each generation. It is because of the myth we created through our parenting.

Children are only these tiny little planets surrounding the sun, which is us, in a vast galaxy of other suns and planets. We all have our positions, we all are subject to the rules of this vast universe and when we do not maintain our places, chaos erupts, hence the state of the world.

As parents we must first understand our place and position in the world, and function accordingly. We must be aware of our own personal power as human beings and from this position, educate our children to their power and function in the world. This power is infinite! However, there are rules to be followed in wielding it.

A religious or philosophical foundation is a must! The reason being that we all need a ‘rule book’ on how to live in this world to the best of our abilities inn order to maximize our power and potential. This is the primary purpose of religion or life philosophy. I will not presume to determine for anyone what choices to make, religion/life philosophy is a personal issue and only the individual can choose for himself or herself.

But back to my original premise, children are these little planets, and we are the sun. This being the case, we must provide, warmth, nourishment and all those things that will ensure a strong and healthy life for the heart, mind, and spirit of those planets (children), based on the abilities of each planet.

If we hold them to close to the sun, they will scorch and be incapable of supporting ‘life’. If we hold them to far away their centers will become frozen, again being incapable of supporting ‘life’. Either way, we create planets (children) whose life supporting functions (heart, mind, and spirit) have been severely warped or destroyed.

Just something to think about…