Our children are so sensitive that we are afraid of telling them anything. We do not know how they will react. How should we deal with them?._ Question asked by a Parent

Answer :

The first thing is to set an example through one's own life.  If your life is pure and disciplined, even without your telling they will assimilate those qualities.  Secondly, you must give them certain amount of freedom.  Do not try to be a policeman, always watching and suspecting their movements.  At the same time, you must keep a watch over them from a distance.  If you sense something wrong with them, first verify the truth before arriving at a conclusion.  You can easily collect the facts from their teachers and friends by occasionally visiting their working place or school or college.  No human being is perfect.  It is our nature to make mistakes.  No one does it intentionally; it is out of ignorance.  Naturally, children due to their lack of experience in this world will commit mistakes.  You must learn to forgive them.  "To err is human, but to forgive is divine", so goes a popular saying.  After a certain age, they should be treated as friends and handled with great love and respect.  As far as possible, do not take recourse to corporeal punishment and harsh scolding.  Develop tremendous patience to correct them in a friendly way.  Your genuine love and concern for them will certainly bring about a change in their behaviour.  Give them positive ideas, good literature to study, expose them to good surroundings.  Once you provide them with good food, they will not go in search of bad._ Swami Srikanthananda.