Lost art of parenting

[Guest guest]

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Lost art of parentingBy JAYAGANDI JAYARAJ HIGHLIGHTING the need to re-establish

the bond of love between parents and children, a recent talk on parenting by

speakers Robert and Rita Bruce was very enlightening for some 600 guests who

attended the function.

Married for 49 years, the couple have been touring the world and giving lectures

and conducting workshops for the last 30 years on the perils of parenting and

how to overcome them.

 

Robert and Rita with the books written by Rita.They have also written books on

the subject, using a spiritual approach through the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai

Baba. Two of the books written by Rita are Sathya Sai Parenting and Love of

Conscience.

The Sathya Central Council of Malaysia invited the husband-and-wife team from

the United States for the talk that was held at Sunway Universiti College.

Rita said it was the parents’ primary responsibility to mould the character of

their children by a great deal of awareness, richness of understanding and the

strength of application.

“People today are stressed and have great difficulty because they have no time

for their families. As a result the children are falling through the cracks,”

said Rita.

She said the influence of television and commercials had also created a large

vacuum in the lives of families.

In her Sathya Sai Parenting book, Rita says that even though men and women share

duties and cross over into each other’s traditional roles, the primary

responsibility of the male is to support his family and the female to nurture

the family.

She says “primary responsibility” means basic nature, thus it is easier for men

and women to perform their predominant roles.

On teaching self-discipline to children, Rita said since parents were

responsible for developing their children’s character, it was also their duty

to teach them the joy of giving to others.

“This can begin by offering to help family members in their daily routines.

“In previous generations, children were trained to help. Parents taught the

children to support them and to be grateful.

“Today, love and discipline have been replaced by purchasing power. We buy items

to tell our children how much we love them. But it is the inner reward that

counts. People need character to sustain themselves,” said Rita in her book.

sourced:

http://metro.thestar.com.my/news/2005/4/10719576.html

 

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