When you are raising a child, you are in a way raising a parent within you. If you are successful in raising yourself as a happy parent, you can be more than sure that you will raise a happy child.
Usually, children in their childhood are influenced more by their parents than anyone else. If parents are serious in nature, so will their children. If parents are jovial, kids will follow suit.
I am excited to share with you my secrets about raising kids.
Encourage naughtiness in kids
Being naughty should not only be permissible but also encouraged. When kids do little mischiefs, they are happy to see the joy and wonder on other faces. Their personalities bloom with naughtiness.
Every evening my 10-year-old son would hide as soon as his father came home. He desired to be found by his father. At my insistence, he would hide in different places. It brought creativity to his naughtiness. One evening, he hid in the unused water cooler on the balcony, making it time-consuming for his father to search. With an amusing pose, he exclaimed, “Mom, I will have to teach Papa how to search for me. Papa takes a lot of time to figure out my hiding place. I feel thirsty and sweaty.”
Ask your kids to be naughty in a different way. Tell them if they keep repeating the same mischiefs, people will come to know. Thus, let them be naughty in different ways. It will help them open up their creativity. But yes, all this fun needs to be done with care lest someone gets annoyed or harmed. Nothing is funny if it is at the cost of someone else.
LOL (laugh out loud)
I was introduced to LOL as my first acronym by my son. It is one of the most common slang in social media communications nowadays. I like it the best. Do you know why? I used to tell my son, “Everything could fall apart, but the first response should be laughter.” Laughter is the by-product of happiness. So if you laugh, you will achieve something profound in life. These lines have been a turning point in many lives.
Support your children to transform their apathy into empathy
Ask your kids to pay attention to the feelings, body language, facial expressions, words and tone of others.
Tell them to think before they speak or act. Let them imagine how others’ might react in their situation.
Let them know that everyone is different and will respond differently.
Guide them on how to stand up for others even if there is a situation that does not concern you, as you can still be helpful.
Bring happiness by developing empathy and interpersonal skills in Medha Yoga level 1 of The Art of Living, Children and Teens Programs. My friend Dimple shares, “My kids know now how to best respond (what to say or do that might be helpful) to other people. They have an idea of how someone is feeling. They have belongingness. Bringing joy into others’ lives makes my kids happy too.”
Based on the book “Know your child - The art of raising children” by Gurudev.
Recommended reads:
“Don’t take anything from anyone.” Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. More on handling insults.
“Challenges of a teenager and how parents can learn to accept their behavioral difference.” The article is authored by Ms. Vennela Nandury, an Edupreneur, and an associate director for The Art of Living Children and Teens.
