Feels like I have not written a blog post in so long… I have been meaning to write this one for some time now. These are my thoughts on raising children in these interesting times we are living in.
My blessings
I have been blessed with two awesome kids. One girl and one boy, ages 9 and 7. I would say they are fairly normal to today’s societies standards. They are both smart and are excelling in school. Both are athletic and enjoy sports, they enjoy watching movies, and playing video games. My daughter is creative and loves to do crafty type stuff. She is into labeling things these days or writing small notes and attaching them to things around the house. My son loves soccer and is currently getting too good at video games :). Lately we have been playing board games, namely Monopoly. Even as long as that game takes they stick it out and play until the very end. I lose some patience more than they do as the game ends up dragging on and on, but we all have fun.
My viewpoint
At the soul level I believe we choose our parents for various reasons. There is something to be learned from our experience in the family we are born into. I believe in past lives and that some of us have soul families that we incarnate with over lifetimes and lessons and obstacles can be met with some familiarity. In one life you may be the parent and in another life you may be the child in relation to a soul family member. With this in mind we can then look at the child/parent relationship a little differently. There are two ways to see the relationship. One as being equal or one as being not equal. As a parent in this society I have tended to see children as not equal to me. There are subtle things that as you grow up you experience and learn from to tell you that this is true. We all hear people say “kids these days” or “back in my day we didn’t do it that way”. There is a sense of separation all too often. Recently however I have realized that children are equal if not greater than me. I feel that I am not to be the authority figure in their lives but a guide to help them see their potential, to help them think outside the box, and to lift them up so they can be the best person they can be in this lifetime.
Who is the teacher
I see my kids as my teachers at times. As I have become more aware and live more in the present moment I see how they test me, show me things from a different perspective, and show me how society is shaping all of us. Deep down kids are compassionate, loving, and empathetic. Usually when this goes away there has been some type of conditioning that occurred. The child had no choice but to let ego step in and take over for the sake of survival. Children are born with good hearts in my opinion. Those hearts are slowly closed off in most cases. I aim to guide my kids so that they live with open hearts and honesty at all times. Even though that is tough in this society I believe that is what this society needs more of.
Playfulness
Children are masters at living in the moment. They don’t know any other way sometimes. As they get older that tends to fade away but it doesn’t have to be that way. I find myself wanting to be a child again just for the playfulness and carefree outlook on life. As adults we tend to become too serious and miss opportunities to experience good times with those around us. We miss out on true living the way our lives were meant to be lived. We fill our lives with more and more responsibility thinking it will make us happy but I think the more simple our lives are the happier we will be. Kids live a simple life and for the most part they are happy. Adulthood doesn’t have to be so serious!
Newer generations
As we get older we get set in our ways. The newer generations see things differently, they interact with things differently, and face different problems than the older generations did. The teenage years are seen as the rebellious years and I think this is for good reason. They are trying to hold onto their childhood while being forced to do things the old way because someone else said so. We need more innovation and creativity and I think that gets stifled when they are forced to follow the crowd. Stay in school, get good grades, go to college, get a good job, find someone to spend the rest of your life with, have kids, go into debt, buy a house, commute in traffic, etc.. Is that really happiness and success for everyone? Is that what we should be telling our future leaders?
Different approach
Now this viewpoint could change but I have recently been thinking about this scenario. Most people in 1st world countries put a heavy emphasis on education and the aim to get a high paying job after college. I don’t feel that my education was a total waste of time but for the most part I could have gone just fine without several years of repetitive schooling. As people grow up they tend to have a passion in life. They are drawn to something that really interests them. Maybe it is a hobby or it is something that makes them feel good. I believe as parents we should be more open to different ideas of how our children can become successful in life. For instance if my child was super passionate about something right after high school and wanted to start a business, I would rather spend money on helping them start their business rather than go to college. My reasoning being that most of college is review and useless information that has nothing to do with their chosen profession. The experience they would get in launching a business is far more beneficial for them even if they failed in my opinion. On the flip side if they wanted to be a doctor and they were passionate about that then I would certainly support the schooling needed for such a career. Basically I would support their passion in life rather than societies expectations of my child.
In closing I feel very blessed to have a boy and a girl to raise and help me grow. Every day is different and rewarding. Some days can be challenging but the love I feel for them just cancels out any challenges. If you have young kids take the time to listen to them, talk with them about their experiences, be open to learn from them, and uplift them so high that nothing in this life will bring them down. Our children are the future and the future is something that should be a happy loving place for all to enjoy.
Live better, be happy, and love all that is!
Namaste!
I loved reading that! Thank you.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for reading.