Feature

LOVING YOUR CHILD

Nazwa Warda

BABIES are the most beautiful gifts in a human being's life; in every race, tribe and in every different nation. They are the symbols of purity and innocence. But the grooming up of the children in order to retain this purity and virtue lies totally on the upbringing by their parents. From the birth of a child till he gains maturity, it is the earnest duty of every parent not to just nurture and foster him, but to groom the child up with moral principles, integrity and well-built philosophy.

It is every parent's responsibility to prepare the child in the right way. Training means coaching and guiding. Training also means producing required positive changes within the mind set of a person. They need to give the child awareness and knowledge, which would eventually help him gain good characteristics, and develop a virtuous and honorable personality. Such training of children has great benefits for the child as well as for the society in which he lives. Although many people have an influence on the training of a child, the first and most important trainers are the parents.

A child must be guided towards what is right and correct, both legally and ethically. This includes teaching of beliefs, actions of faith, good manners, and religious and social values. The child should be taught about healthy ways of living, having good relationships with others, living a useful and honest life in terms of helping and serving others and having the earnings spent in a constructive manner.

In a world like today where everyone is just crazy in money making, they deprive their children in terms of time which eventually snatches away precious feelings of togetherness, belonging and feelings of love, care, protection and security. Love or the lack of it has a profound effect on the lives of children. Their mental capabilities, their fluency of speech, their observations and deductions on life, are all affected by it. They are sometimes on the contrary given so much of excess or pampering by some parents that it also can be very dangerous at times. For many a parent it is quite difficult to control the intensity of emotion for a child. Thus a child may be showered with a lot of love, often misdirected. Everything in excess is harmful.

The first thing that a parent should focus on is giving enough love and attention to the child. The warmth of love is necessary to infuse spirit and joy in life. A home without love, however orderly and organized, will not seem like a home, it will only remain a brick-built structure. A family's outstanding characteristic is that members love one another, and this emotion binds them together.

A child who is loved and who feels loved can form better relationships with others. A loving relationship with the parents makes the child a kinder, more affectionate person. Lack of love hardens the heart, and he could become less prone to showing love for others.

A child who knows that he is loved is more confident of himself. He knows that he is worthy of being loved, and that is a great boost up for his self-esteem.

It will also help him have a positive outlook on life. A child who is loved looks at the world with enthusiasm. He will be eager to try and experience new things. A loveless home produces a negative outlook.

That is why Islam emphasizes the display of love to one's family. The Holy Prophet (s) loved his grandsons dearly, and often showed great affection to them in public. Parents should also teach their children to grow patience, compliance, perseverance and generosity towards every human being of all classes. In the long run it teaches them to adapt and adjust with compatibility to different situations and handle many critical, complicated and challenging tasks.

Sometimes lack of these brings disastrous results in many important areas in life like in family, professional, academic or in other personal areas. It reduces a person's speed of work, often results into quick indulgence of frustration and annoyance and eventually affect their performance in their respective fields.

So it is the duty of a parent to mentor the child so that he or she grows up as a compassionate human being.