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 our 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. Woes of Life – a Challenge
It has always been a priority of parents to give as much happiness to their children as they can and, generally, most of this 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 of 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 instil 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 ten percent inspiration”.
From the very beginning of childhood, children should undergo mental and physical labour. 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 them 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 rumours 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:
Lord! Grant us wives and offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes. (25:74)
(Translated by Muhammad Hanif)