TeaThe media is full of reports about all kinds of crimes taking place on a large scale in India – acts of terrorism, escalating and barbaric violence against women, dacoity and petty theft, corruption at all levels of administration, juvenile delinquency, religious conflict, immoral Corporate practices, criminalization of politics, anti-national activities, killings for profit. Hence there is an urgent need for corrective steps through a suitable reform process and it should start with the education sector.
We generally believe that the task of character building and personality development rests with the teachers and schools have to arrange for value education as they are the learning and character building centers.
But, the present schooling system is burdened with heavy syllabus and there is a lot of pressure on the teachers to complete the syllabus on time and train the students well to face the final examinations. In addition, they are also responsible for co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. Therefore, schools are not ready to allocate time for value or moral education and it is difficult to get adequate number of teachers with aptitude and ability to teach the subject. Therefore, the task of imparting value education in the modern world has fallen on the parents.
Pre-school years and non-school hours in the early years of children’s lives are spent at home. That’s why parents are the first role models for them. Generally, children imitate or follow the conduct, attitude and mannerisms of family members, especially parents. Their behavior plays a major role in shaping the character of children. So parents need to understand what “responsible parenting” is.
It is a way of life towards the attainment of sustainable human development. It is defined as a series of decisions that are made to ensure the best possible life for the family and that community. This means that parents are not only responsible for the physical well-being of their children, but are also responsible for developing them into a sophisticated human being endowed with all the values of life. This also extends to the development of their mental and emotional well-being. Implementation of that responsibility is possible only when parents understand what “responsible parenting” is. In other words, they are responsible for molding the character of their children.
how to do this?
Parents must make a determination to implement positive thoughts and actions during their parenting phase. They should be a role model for their children in following the values of life, with respect to religious practice, they should show their children how to be faithful to their own faith and tolerant of the faith of others. With regard to interpersonal relationships, they must demonstrate by their behavior how to accept people with their plus and minus points. This will help in building cordial relations with neighbours, friends and relatives.
Parents should help others as much as possible (within the limits of their ability) and should exhibit such character in their daily lives. Helping the needy is a great human quality. Children who follow this quality of parenting become compassionate citizens.
If the parents observe such qualities as compassion towards the poor and handicapped, respect for elders, friendship and cordiality with neighbors and relatives, loyalty in friendship, respectful behavior towards service providers, awareness of civic duties and patriotism So they don’t need to do that. Worrying about negativity of thoughts, lack of focus in character building and misdirection of your energy and knowledge among your children.
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