Raising a Child to be Wholesome : หน้า 55/207

Raising a Child to be Wholesome Wholesome children have parents who have taught them to have discipline in both their worldly lives and in Dhamma. Discipline is taught in conjunction with their use of the four requisites, their assignments, and in their daily routine. Parents must set an example through their own behavior. The 4 Worldly Disciplines are: 1. Discipline with speech. To teach a child to have discipline in speech, parents must speak properly (politely, truthfully, and with good intentions). Parents must point out the negative consequences of lying, i.e., it undermines the quality of the mind and causes forgetfulness. 2. Discipline with time. Teaching a child to have discipline with time is to teach them to wake up, eat, and sleep on time. Waking up on time means getting up early in the morning to keep a child from sleeping all the time. In particular, if a girl wakes up late, it could break up her marriage in later life. Eating on time means that a child must eat when a meal is scheduled. If children come down with gastritis, chances are they will have symptoms for the rest of their life, i.e., they will develop a stomach ache whenever they are under pressure. Sleeping on time means going to sleep early, they will not want to get up early. When their parents wake them up, they will bargain for more sleep, starting their day with an argument. They will become deceitful people. 3. Discipline with cleanliness. Dirty children are not well received in society. Parents have to teach them how to maintain cleanliness, such as how to take a bath by using less water, soap, and time, but still turn out clean. 4. Discipline with organization. Children who lack organizational skills tend to have conflicts when they work with others. They cannot follow outlined procedures or prepare and complete their work, resulting in difficulty of achieving success. The Dhamma Disciplines are rooted in the Five Precepts: Children that don’t keep the Five Precepts will experience problems in their adult life, such as in their marriage. And if life is unfavorable, they may commit a crime in the future: 1) If they do not keep the First Precept (No taking or harming of life) then: They might commit a murder.