Truth for the Family: Teaching Respect and Responsibility : หน้า 149/216

Part Five: Truth for the Family able to absorb guidance readily. The ethics instilled in them will flourish and they will be better able to deal more clearly with uncertainties. There are, of course, people who believe that children should be left free to think for themselves and that training them to meditate is too restrictive. In reality, however, because we want our children to grow up to be good people, we cannot leave them to their own devices, hoping that they will naturally grow up to be good. We have to set good examples while teaching them, for instance: using polite speech, showing humility, and respecting everyone in the family. Initially, children may not understand the reasons why they have to be respectful, but at least they are being shown good manners. When they are old enough to understand, we should explain to them why they should be respectful to parents, grandparents, and teachers. They may know that it is a good thing to do, but they may be too embarrassed to do it. Some adults who have never been taught to pay respect to their parents will feel very uncomfortable doing it, and even the parents are too embarrassed because they are not used to it. If we are not trained to be respectful from a young age, we will grow up to be self-centered, and then we will not even be able to recognize goodness in other people. These days, we can see that many people possess negative attitudes, always searching for defects in other people, students with their teachers, supervisors with their subordinates, colleagues amongst one another. The sense of community and harmony deteriorates. The only way to reverse this trend is to teach respect and responsibility; and to see goodness in other people. If we want our children to grow up Family Day By Day 147 Meditation and Family