I like to know what different authors and characters think about parenting and how to educate and treat children, because I consider that our attitude towards childhood is what really reflects the soul of people.
Some authors disappoint me a lot because they seem very tolerant and human, but then they defend hard hands and military discipline over children. But the opinions of the XIV Dalai Lama have not disappointed me at all, but are consistent with a person whom Tibetan Buddhism considers the reincarnation of “Buddha of compassion”.
In September he gave a lecture at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona to 14,000 people on "The Art of Happiness", the title of his last book together with the psychiatrist Howard Cutler of Grijalbo editorial.
I have chosen two excerpts from his speech: one is general but we can apply it to the education of our children, and another is his memories about his mother and his recipe for parenting.
“This society has developed material well-being to extremes never known and that is good. But it is curious that, despite everything, there is a growing crisis at the mental level. The solution to this new problem cannot be found in the market, we cannot buy it, not even in the doctor, because it is actually found in compassion and in kindness”
“My mother was an uneducated peasant, but also a very affectionate and kind woman. I am convinced that thanks to her I developed the compassion, major or minor, that I can feel now for others. She put the seed of love in my mind. My father was a severe man and, if only he had educated me, I would be a different person. I advise giving maximum affection to the children and spending as much time as possible with them because the happiness of Humanity depends on the new generations learning to love more”
In these wise words are the magic ingredients of parenting: love and time.
Thank you, Holiness and thanks to your mother.
