Thread: Lingering Thoughts... (Cyg's Journal)

Parenting Bringing Up Children First, inspire them with courage, even when they are very small. You must never scare or deceive them, even in a joke. If they contract cowardice when young, the cowardice will last the whole life. Hence cowardice will become their lifelong fault If you scold your children too severely when they are young, then they will grow up to be timid. Also you must not let them fall into bad habits that you can not mend by scolding them... - Hakagure. pg. 26 Ive chosen this topic next with good reason. I saw a man bring his child, whom I assume was between the age of 6-8, to a haunted maze. A haunted maze where we chase guests with chainsaws, frighten them with car sized spiders, and have people waiting in nearly every shadow ready to burst out and frighten whomever passes by. Not to mention the handful of frighteners dressed up as your quintessential horror movies villains, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Kreuger, Leather Face and Michael Myers. So as I see this man, with child in tow make their way into my area I cant help but notice the little guy crying. I dont mean sobbing, I mean absolutely wailing. I was hit with a number of emotions all at once. The main being absolute fury. I stepped out and completely broke character, taking it upon myself to make sure the boy was alright. Of course no sooner had I stepped out than his father remarked You need to man up! I choked down my anger and talked to the child for a moment, doing whatever I could to calm him. Finally, after a few moments he was settled and though I offered for them to skip the remainder of the maze the father insisted they continue. I of course had to let them continue, regardless of my own internal objections to the matter. This did however make me think. Im not one to really tell anyone how to raise their own child. Everyone raises their child in their own way and to a point thats fine, as long as the child is not mentally or physically abused. Excuse, if you would, this outburst. DONT SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF A TODDLER! That really, really ticked me off. However, some would say there are some things every child should fear. Ive always believed it would be best not to raise children with fear, but rather grant them understanding. Fear breeds cowardice. Teach your children respect. Respect for their parents, respect for authority, respect for their elders and so on. Things that can cause them harm, teach them to understand and have respect for the damage these things can do. Perhaps a gentle, visual aid, nothing graphic of course. It becomes difficult to handle a critical moment when someone around you cant handle the situation. By this I mean, someone who panics, panic being derived from fear. When one enters the Fight or Flight state of mind, all rational thought becomes irrelevant. If youve never dealt with that I warn you now, its impossible and they often become another burden to bear. Show your child the meaning of courage. Instill them with strength of spirit and teach them that anything is possible. Teach them that they can do almost anything if they just apply themselves. It goes without saying that raising a child or children is not as simple as this. There is so much more to contend with and unfortunately were not given an instruction manual upon their birth. As parents we each hope that our children will be better than we are. Tell them of mistakes youve made, as life presents them new challenges, and hopefully they wont have to take the hard road each time. Be sure to tell them about things you wish your parents had warned you about too! But if you instill them with the right principles at a young age, it will carry through for the rest of their lives and maybe, one day, theyll thank you for it.