Training Children in a Magnanimous Way
Train your children with generosity. Train your children with magnanimity. If they make any mistakes, call them to account a bit later. Or, not at all is even better.
Ayatollah Bahjat’s son said, “When my father wanted to tell us something, he would tell a story and we had to think about it to understand what he meant. Sometimes after a few days, we would think, ‘Maybe he had meant this.’ After a few more days, we would realize, ‘Aha! He was saying this.’” This was his habit. This is the result of having “Taqwa (Piety)!” See how beautiful a person becomes.
His son said, “In the last days of his life, sometimes he talked about the good death of people. Then, we realized he was readying us for his death. ‘Death is nothing! It’s just like sleeping. When a person gets tired, he sleeps.’ Since I knew my father very well, I understood that he was informing us about his leaving. He wouldn’t talk directly. He would tell a story and we had to think about it to understand what he meant.
Once, he told this story, ‘An honourable scholar lived with his son in one room. That scholar told his son, “Shall we put up a curtain in the middle of the room, so that there will be modesty between us?” How modest people were before. These stories are amazing.’ I heard this story. I wondered why he suddenly remembered this story. I had to think about what he wanted to say! Then, I thought since it had been a while that I had to sleep in his room due to his infirmity, maybe he meant that I have to put up a curtain. I put up a curtain in the room when he had gone to teach. Later, I asked him, ‘I have put up a curtain here. Is it good?’ He showed his satisfaction.”
This is how it becomes. This is so beautiful! O God! It’s very beautiful to live like this. For you to treat your child as a person too, don’t call him to account whenever he does something wrong. Also, don’t encourage him whenever he does something good. Let him stand on his own feet. Always be kind to him.
“You’re saying we shouldn’t encourage our child?!” Always encourage him. Say, “I will always buy you ice cream!” Train your children with magnanimity. Raise them to be magnanimous, so that they will be magnanimous from their childhood.
There is no god, except Allah. Shall we talk about Karbala? The commander of the cursed Yazid said, “You won’t punish me if I say something? I want to say something good about Husayn’s (‘a) family.” He replied, “Say it.” The commander asked, “Am I safe? On the way, we whipped and harassed Husayn’s children very much. But, Husayn’s children didn’t say any bad words to us even once. He has trained his family well.”
You have to behave with your children in the same way! This is a method. Learn this method!
[From the series of speeches under the topic of, “‘Taqwa,’ a Plan for Managing Society.”]
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