Sai Baba on Children

(A short Essay)

Have you ever been the victim of ill-behaved children?  They scream and holler if they don’t get their way and the parents just smile with frustration. I was once at a five-star hotel restaurant and two children, attending what appeared to be a family function, actually walked on the dining tables.  Even the staff could not control them. How do children get so spoiled?

According to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba children are precious treasures that must be brought up in an atmosphere of devotion to God.  He said, “Today the parents give unlimited freedom to their children which is highly disastrous.  If the children are not controlled at the tender age, they can never be controlled.”

But who should be doing the disciplining, and in what kind of an environment?  Puttaparthi Sai is direct,” The homes in which the children grow, as indeed all homes, have to be clean with vibrations free from hatred, envy, greed, spite and hypocrisy.  The food that the child takes in has to be sathwic and pure.”

Some believe that a child does not absorb information until she enters school.  However, Sai has a different message, “Between the ages of two and five the child’s mind is profoundly affected by the behavior of those nearest it; so the parents must take care to set a good example.”

Is the child’s behavior totally dependant on the parents?  The Beloved Lord said, “Children have unselfish love; they are innocent onlookers; they observe the actions of the elders and they learn their lessons from the home much earlier than from school.  So, parents have to be very careful in their behavior with the children and between themselves.”

These so-called “modern times” do not offer any respite from parenting.  In fact, Swami pointed out, “The child should grow with the mother for the first five years of life.  Many children do not know what the Prema of the mother is like.  The mother should not hand over her responsibility during those years to some one else and be called simply ‘Mummy’ as if she is some doll with which the child likes to play.  Now the children of rich and educated parents are severely handicapped.  They are deprived of the care and love of parents.  They are handed over to the care of servants and nannies and they grow up in their company and learn vocabulary and habits and styles of thought.  This is very undesirable.”

The child is witness to all that transpires. Therefore, Sathya Sai insisted, “Take great care not to infect the spotlessly clean minds of children with a sense of distinctions between one child and another.  Impart instructions and inspiration equally to all.  Select stories from the scriptures of all faiths to interest the children in the values of a good life.  Speak to them of the moral heroes of all lands, the saints of all faiths, for they are all of the same stamp.”

And, please, no walking on the dining tables.