12 Important Lessons for Parents

Educating a child is no easy task. Learn from these 12 important lessons how to educate your children to form a better world and guide them to a life of greater happiness  

Photo by Jude Back on Unsplash

In the education process, it is common to hear parents asking themselves where they went wrong or why have their children taken the wrong paths, far from those idealized by them.

In order to allow more thoughtful reflections on this important topic, we aligned some points of prominence in dealing with children, which are not always taken into account.

Examples at Home

Consider the importance of example at home. The child follows models and the closest and most constant ones are the parents. Those who they live every day during the first phase of their lives.

Discipline

Children are not trinkets to be admired and displayed. They are beings that need discipline and affection for the formation of character from an early age.

Parents' Responsibility

No one replaces parents in their responsibilities to their children. No matter how dignified the professionals are and no matter how well paid, they will never be able to provide the assistance that maternal love and paternal security give them.

Let them Live

Children are not satellites that will remain around their parents, indefinitely. Created for progress, they walk on their own path, with personal attitudes and thoughts. They are immortal spirits, who transit the world, in search of a greater objective.

Money, Work and Cooperation

Children can earn allowances and facilities, however, always with a spirit of justice. And, even though your condition may be abundant, one must not forget the need to encourage them to work and cooperate, as much as possible.

Never Overestimate Them

With the excuse of being intelligent, never encourage them to overestimate their own value, remembering the lessons of correct conduct by the branches of humility, since no one has all knowledge.

Be Impartial

Cultivating preferences, as well as welcoming intrigues, rebuking one, insistently, and failing to correct the other, is a path that can cause misconduct among the children, generating jealousy and disagreement.

Career Choice

Never impose a particular professional career on children, without observing the trends, which must be respected.

Be Honest

Always keep in mind that honest explanations around the world and life are the best way, avoiding surrendering children's minds to superstitions and excesses of fantasies.

No Prejudice

Do not to force the little ones to harbor prejudices, teaching them, on the contrary, to respect the harmony of the differences that the world presents.

Marriage

Do not compel children to marry or stop marrying, or frustrate their freedom of choice for a partner.

Final Thoughts

Let us not forget that, as loving parents and interested in the well-being of our children, they are our partners in this experience.

They may be friendly or opponents. They can be creditors who arrive for adjustments or debtors who knock on the door of affection, asking for forgiveness and help.

But, independently of the circumstances, let us keep in mind that we will meet again in the Greater Life, as brothers and sisters before the unique fatherhood of God.

Adapted from Momento Espírita, originally published on April 9, 2014.

See Also

• The Power of Love
• Weighted observation
• The most important bridge
• Bridge of Life
• A Thinking Power
• Divine Poem

When did we forget?

Most of us come from virtuous families so why so many of us become corrupt politicians, bad professionals and beings who only think about themselves?

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In an interview, a young woman said that she was about seven years old when she went to the grocery store near her with her mother. While the mother did the shopping, she, the girl, hid a candy in her pocket.

On the way out, feeling like the smartest girl in the world, the girl showed the candy to the mom and said: Look, I took it without paying.

She received a stern look back. The mother took her by the hand, returned to the market, had her return the candy and asked her to apologize. The girl cried so much from being ashamed but now, years later she understands that that gesture taught her the value of honesty.

Childhood Education

It is possible that several of us have had similar experiences, so we ask: when did we forget the lesson? What made us forget our childhood education?

Childhood is the period in which the human being is mostly malleable to the construction of the self. It is the period when the education given by parents have more weight because after all, they know everything. It is the period where examples speak much louder than words.

How many of us, still had teachers who taught us to be responsible, disciplined and correct? Teachers who devoted their lives to teaching with their own examples? 

Why did we forget?

So why did we leave those noble lessons behind?

If most of us came from homes where we were taught virtues, what made us despise honor and honesty? Why so many of us become corrupt politicians, bad professionals, beings who only think about themselves?

So here are some points that you probably learned in your childhood that are worth reflecting:

• Do not take anything that does not belong to you.
• If you find an object, look for the owner because he must be missing it.
• Respect your neighbor, your space, your property.
• Public goods belong to the people and everyone should benefit from them. No one has to take for themselves what belongs to everyone.
• Respect the domestic servant, the postman, the garbage man. They are valuable contributors to our lives.
• Remember to thank the diligent work of those who delicate their lives to the public.
• Greet peoples smile.
• Give up your place, in the collective, to the elderly, to people with special needs, to pregnant women, to those who carry small children in their arms.
• Give way to traffic, wait a second longer for the pedestrian to complete the crossing, before starting off with speed, just because the signal has opened.

Final Thoughts

Laws are created so that by obeying them, we live better as a society. Let us make a return to childhood and remember the virtuous examples given to us by our parents and our teachers.

The world of tomorrow awaits our correct actions today. Now.

Adapted from Momento Espírita, originally published on August 04, 2015.

See Also

• The Power of Love
• Weighted observation
• The most important bridge
• Bridge of Life
• A Thinking Power
• Divine Poem

Courage

The moment we live is of great challenges. Do we have courage to bear all the challenges we face? 

Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

The moment we now live on Earth is of great challenges, requiring a lot of courage, to behave according to the Divine Laws.

Courage to maintain honesty when almost everything around us conspires against the right attitudes.

Courage not to strike back at the blows of insanity, maintaining understanding and praying the blessings of heaven for your unbalanced brother.

Courage not to deviate from humility and integrity when, with power in our hands, we do not allow pride and selfishness to take over.

Courage to cultivate moderation and patience when we realize that the difficulties are getting worse.

Courage to maintain patience, even if your heart is beaten by the onslaught of cruel feelings that reach us.

Courage to preserve in serenity when the storms of discord and disagreements roar, threatening to bring us down.

Moral Courage

When we carry the Gospel of Jesus in our hearts, we know that it is not by running away from obstacles that we overcome them, but by facing them with calm, serenity and confidence. We understand that the first virtue of those who trust God is moral courage.

Courage that is necessary to achieve self-discipline to remain in balance in the face of attacks of less noble feelings and attitudes.

Courage that helps bearing difficulties with serenity, making the necessary efforts to overcome them.

Courage to persevere in the face of difficulties, without allowing ourselves to give up.

Our journey, in this life, reserves us many paths to travel, but the peace and happiness that we long for, will only be built with inner courage. And it is this courage that will determine when and how we will achieve our inner improvement, which will be reflected in our individual fulfillment.

The greater the achievement, the calmer our attitudes will be, helping us continue our personal journey.

Final Thoughts

Faced with the most embarrassing situations of his material life, Jesus endured all the injuries, all the humiliations that were inflicted on him, maintaining the purity of the high ideal for which he endeavored to the extreme sacrifice.

Let us have the courage to act like Him, maintaining serenity and moving on.

Let us have compassion of those who have lost their faith and stumbled upon violence.

Let us look at those who despaired and were lost in the revolt.

Let us keep in mind that true courage arises from resilience and calm in times of challenge, suffering and imbalance.

Let us protect ourselves in good. When we are about to utter any thoughtless phrase or take the least action against others, let us pray and be silent because heaven hears us. God will always sustain us in our good efforts.

Adapted from Momento Espírita, originally published on April 07, 2018.

See Also

• The Power of Love
• Weighted observation
• The most important bridge
• Bridge of Life
• A Thinking Power
• Divine Poem