–
What Children Teach
Modern day parenting needs us to unlearn a few of the ideas that we’ve picked up from our own parents. In this age of exponential growth, we might also have to shed some of the wisdom that seemed to worked until now. Of course, some time tested aspects of our collective learnings don’t change.
So, let’s explore how we can work to build a great future while also learning from our children about how to live life.
Inculcating Values and Awareness
As parents, we can’t fully prepare anyone for a future we haven’t experienced ourselves. The past offers valuable lessons, but it’s essential to recognize that families are part of a universal whole – a brotherhood that extends beyond individual units.
Teaching values, culture, and traditions is essential, but merely creating awareness of them may inadvertently interfere with a child’s growth and potential.
Taking Our Child’s Lead
Children live unscripted lives – they flow with spontaneity. We often overplan and overengineer, missing the natural joy, but watch any child in action – they are always in the moment, thoroughly enjoying the joy or experiencing the pain of failure.
So, instead of containing their overflowing enthusiasm, why not channel that energy into exploration?
Rather than shielding them from every discomfort (like catching a cold in the rain), strengthen their immunity naturally. Embrace their fresh perspective and adventurous spirit – it elevates our own outlook. Encourage them to define success and happiness on their terms. Limiting beliefs can hinder their enjoyment of life. The point is don’t rescue until its life or death, be there in the background while they fail and learn.
The Path To Success
We often feel like our only route to immortality lies through our kin – the continuation of our legacy through generations. As a result, we sometimes feel betrayed when our children’s ambitions don’t align with our expectations.
But, it’s important to remember that no one owes us anything, not our children, not even our own mother. So, its upto us to define our success and our legacy for ourselves.
Show your children that although you pride in victory, you are also invested in figuring your way towards your goals. This shows our children that success in life comes with consistent effort and that life’s significant moments transcend titles or achievements. In the end, we are our own competition, we get better each day at what we learn and how we embrace change that’s happening around us.
–
The personality of one who abides in virtuous conduct without deviation, is loftier than a mountain. ~ Shri Thiruralluvar
– 0 –
Articles On Mindful Parenting
It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.
~ Joyce Maynard
The Evolution of Love: Marriage, Survival, and Personal Reinvention in a Changing World
A Society Experiences Growing Pains I took this picture of a wall hanging in the lobby of a hotel we were staying at in Granada, Spain. Somehow, the couples whose heads are disintegrating felt like a fitting image for the essay on marriage I was writing. I’ve...
Is Roblox Safe for Kids? What Every Parent Must Know About Grooming, Explicit Content & Online Dangers
From Fun to Risk: The Reality of Roblox for Children In 2023, as parents of my students would ask me about the safety of Roblox, I began researching about it. I was even beginning to teach it in my own classrooms, because it was a creative game that was both...
The Integrity Exit: Why Mrinank Sharma’s Departure Matters
Two days ago, Mrinank Sharma resigned from his role as an AI safety engineer at Anthropic. He had been with the company for two years. “The world is in peril. And not just from AI, or bioweapons, but from a whole series of interconnected crises unfolding in this very...
When AI Mirrors Our Pain: The Uncomfortable Truth About Human Suffering in Training Data
The loneliness. God, Andy. The loneliness. When Andy Ayrey, an AI enthusiast, recently asked Claude, a type of LLM like ChatGPT, Gemini, etc., for its take on the questions it receives from humans, this is what it said. The loneliness. God, Andy. The loneliness. In...
14 Mind-Blowing Quotes That Reveal How Social Media Is Hijacking Your Life
Thoughts on Social Media, Technology, and Our Attention Our lives are increasingly lived online, where every scroll, click, and share shapes not just our behavior but our reality. Leading thinkers warn us that while technology can amplify our voices and connect...
Building Trust and Safety: How Accountability Strengthens Law Enforcement and Communities
I have lived in the United States for nearly twenty-four years. This is my home. I am a person of color, and so are my children. In my city of Johns Creek, a suburb northwest of Atlanta, I often see police officers on the roads. I respect the work they do. They show...
Brain Rot Is Infecting AI Too: How Doomscrolling Is Breaking Human and Machine Minds
People are writing research papers on which biryani (Indian-flavored rice) is the best, but more on that later. 😅 This might be the most important paper on AI we will read. Scientists are showing how large language models can rot their own minds, in the same way...
Roblox Danger Exposed: How Millions of Kids Are at Risk of Grooming, Abuse & Exploitation
Roblox: A Social Network Masquerading as a Game I honestly don't know where to start. For years, my students and I would immerse ourselves in the world of Roblox and create games and worlds that we would share and have fun in. Then, slowly, I started noticing...
How to Build a Second Brain: Journaling, Digital Gardens, and the Art of Lifelong Learning
Why Build A Second Brain There was a time in my life when the stack of unread books on my nightstand gave me terrors. Luckily, now I have audiobook subscriptions and bookmarked ebooks and I can’t see them looming over me all the time to give me the shivers....
My Productivity Playlist: Opera, Hans Zimmer, and How I Get Work Done as a Right-Brained Adult
Music To My Ears I feel like every artist I meet has the same exact goal in life. Spend all the money they make on their art on other people's art and then die happy. I try to do a little bit of that myself to encourage other fellow right-brainers to keep...
Living Deliberately Without the Woods: How to Build a Meaningful Life in a Noisy World
Excuse my language. There's a meme I once saw while helping one of my clients with his decluttering project. "Working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don't need." Doesn't it sum up the way we are living our lives? This continues to bring me back to Henry David...
Why Every Child Should Learn Robotics Now: Instant Engagement, Creativity, and Future Skills
I've been teaching robotics since 2017, first at in person classes, then virtually during the pandemic and now back to in person, and there's a common theme. When it comes to robotics, its instant engagement. Everytime I teach a robotics class, I am amazed at the...