“Sorry, she is busy in her studies”, “You know how difficult the education has gotten for these children nowadays, she won’t be able to take out time for anything else”, “If only she could get all As, her life will be smooth sailing from there” – a numbered few quintessential phrases we get to hear from those driven, hardworking parents who want to see their children rise to success and stardom. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear “I wish she becomes the best mother one can be”, “If only I could find a place which would teach her to play her roles right”, “Women are the makers of generations to come, I will invest all time and efforts into teaching her the art of life, that’s the most important subject she needs to excel in”.
These thoughts are only hymns of my dreams, of a world where parents will stop running in the wrong rat race, both for their sons and daughters, where grades, numbers and rankings start defining how “good” a child is. Children are taught nothing about living a life, but all about making a living. In the midst of continuous competitions to be better than the girl next door, we often forget to ask ‘better in what’?, and there we get stuck in the vicious cycle of following the crowd, and finding no escape but in being like anyone else.
Step out of this entangled web which goes nowhere. Breathe. Choose to become the decision makers in your child’s life, and don’t be misguided by the pressures of the world. Do you want more degrees, which are laminated pieces of paper signed by an individual with a bigger degree than your child’s, often highlighting knowledge which becomes information as the years pass by and we stop implementing our learnings into every moment of our existence. Or would you prefer life skills which is knowledge that becomes wisdom with time and experience, a significant part of every step your child takes in her life. If this rat race was to develop, improve, better us, would we not to be standing as better humans beings, more civil, ethical, morally upright? But the state of affairs of mankind has deteriorated tremendously, and we stand today as worse but more ‘educated’ than before.
Think. Choose. Decide.
What race will your child be running?
Verita – Art of Living Institute is an initiative aimed to improving the quality of life in all arenas with the tools provided to us from religion, human behavior and social sciences.
