Question

A young boy living in the family is very careless,do not share responsibilities and respect elders. suggests solution for each problem.

Answer 1

I am a 10th class child and will be giving my boards this year. I thought  I could answer this question on the basis of what my parents taught me. So here is your answer:

Let’s play a quick word association game.

I will say one word, and you will say the first thing that comes to your mind when you read that word. Don’t think for long. Just say the first word that occurs to you. OK, here we go.

1. Sky.
2. Night.
3. Discipline.

• Chances are, when you read “sky” the first word that came to your mind was “blue” or “high”.
• When you read “night” you might think of the words “dark” or “day”.
• What about “discipline”? What did you think of when you read that? In my case, I would probably have gone with “punishment” or “set right”.

The idea of discipline being synonymous with punishment is ingrained in our psyche. The first thing we think of when we hear the word “discipline” is usually something negative. To inculcate discipline in a child may be hard but not impossible. It can be possible only with love and kindness, NOT with harshness and being rude.

To teach the boy responsibilities :

1. The first thing to do is meditation. It's the key to success and it will teach him a lot of things, tell him to practice meditation daily. Then he could concentrate on each thing carefully and he will never be careless.
2. Give him examples of some people or some great incidents where careless has got everything screwed. It will help him getting a clear understanding of how bad carelessness is.

Now for teaching him to respect elders:

1. DO NOT adopt a "because I said so" attitude about respecting elders. Kids don't respond well to being told what to do without being told why to do it.
2. Merely saying, "Respect your elders" isn't enough. Explaining the value of elders will give the child real motivation to be kind and courteous to them.
3. Explain that older people, including teachers, grandparents, neighbors and even strangers, have a lot more life experience. Their many years of experience give them a unique perspective that can be incredibly valuable.
4. Ask the child to imagine someone being rude to their grandma or refusing to help his grandpa cross the street. This should help drive home the importance of being respectful to elders.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Soham Patil.