Children are the greatest assets of
human beings. Who among us can even think of a bleak future for his children?
However, mere wishing and day-dreaming will never help materialize a prosperous
future for children. Here are some briefly described tactical points which
can make your children the comfort of your eyes for this life and for that
to come.
1. Good Deeds lead to a Better Life
It has always been a priority of parents
to give as much happiness to their children as they can and, generally,
most of the happiness is mundane. However, happiness is derived not only
through materialistic things; its main source is attached with the attitudes
towards life – a positive attitude. In this world, it is impossible to
avoid the woes of life. Do what you may but you cannot immunize your children
from them.
Yes, there is one definite way through
which you can smother the woes of life: give a positive perception of life
to your children, tell them that the ‘woes of life’ give birth to the best
humans, and it follows thus that the ‘woes of life’ are indeed a blessing
of Allah. On the one hand, they continuously hone the abilities of a person
and on the other hand, they become a means to achieve the best gifts of
Allah besides His approval. Therefore, always instill in your children
the aspiration to treat the ‘woes of life’ as a challenge. Only then will
they be able to observe that what is detrimental for others would be a
nurturing feature of their life.
2. Training for Hard work
The second thing, which must be given
to children, is training for hard work. Parents tend to pamper their children
for an easy life, but over-pampering will make life miserable and lackadaisical
in the future. In this world, there is no room for success for lethargic
and useless people. Success is achievable only through hard work. Even
intelligence grows prominent on the crutches of hard work – as the saying
goes ‘Genius is ninety-percent perspiration and only ten percent inspiration’.
From the very beginning of childhood,
children should undergo mental and physical labor. Don’t wait until they
are grown up. As they grow, they become firm in their habits – which, later,
cannot be altered easily: ‘you can bend a sapling but not a tree’.
3. Children learn from Adults
A child is an excellent copycat. His
imitations either reflect you or the environment provided by you. Thus,
whatever you wish your child to be he will be, provided he gets the necessary
environment. A child who is used to hearing lies in his surroundings cannot
be expected to hate lies by merely reading moral stories found in most
books.
In the same way, children, who are
reared on the facilities of cable television networks and immoral movies,
cannot be expected to grow up into noble humans. It is a dream which can
never come true. Your children are just a reflection of the environment
you provide.
4. Personal Attention and Direct Interaction
Gone are the days when children grew
up themselves. Now every child needs personal attention. Despite all your
precautions, the evils and atrocities of a society, most definitely, find
access to your child. It is your constant and direct interaction with your
children which would shield them from evil. Your friendly attitude and
direct interaction is the way in which you can openly discuss any topic
with your children; moreover, you can tell that the evils of this world
are incongruous to our religious and social values. Without personal attention
and direct interaction, children would have access to possibly unwise friends
and immoral books to satiate their curiosity, which would lead them to
perversity – both mental and practical.
5. Foster your Children’s Intelligence
Being Muslims, it is our responsibility
to impart to our children the basic paradigms of our religion, such as,
there is only one Creator of this universe for our guidance, He has also
sent His messengers and one day we will be presented before our Allah and
will be held accountable for our deeds. People with good deeds will be
rewarded Paradise and those with bad deeds will be sent to Hell.
Good moral values such as modesty, trust, honesty, verity
and justice should be woven into a child’s personality. This is one of
the primal responsibilities of parents. Moreover, solving problems through
negotiations and not trusting rumors without verification are some of the
best qualities of human nature. Don’t you wish to see your children at
the peak of religiosity, morality and humanity?
6. Good Education is Imperative
With the aforesaid things, it is necessary
to provide good education to children according to their aptitudes. Good
education does not mean an expensive English medium school. Rather, whatever
the status of a school, students ought to have full command on the syllabus.
An ordinary school can and does have the best syllabus, provided it is
imparted fully and in a manner as it is meant to be.
It is hoped that after adopting the above-mentioned strategies,
our children would prove to be an envious asset of our society. Besides
taking these measures, we should keep praying to the Almighty to bless
our children with piety and righteousness; in particular, the following
prayer is very apt in this regard:
‘Our Lord! Grant us wives and offspring who will
be the comfort of our eyes, and give us [the grace] to lead the righteous’.
(25:74)
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