Is it worth to follow religion and tradition? – an important parenting tip – by Mitesh Mehta
First of all, to be very clear, no one is asking you to believe in any God or any religion. You can be an atheist and still accept some traditions which align with your beliefs. For example, there is a simple Hindu tradition of doing Namaste when greeting someone. Now, this tradition can be accepted irrespective of your belief. We have often noticed foreigners along with us Indians doing Namaste.
India being a secularly vibrant country, we often notice the diversifying variety of religions and beliefs at every corner of our country.
For example, when we think of Hindu religion, various beautiful traditions come in mind such as one specified above, the tradition of doing Namaste, and many other traditions like performing aarti in mandir (temple), ringing bells in temples, or applying tilak at forehead. We often come across some of the fascinating Muslim festivals and traditions like Ramzan, Eid or traditions like performing Namaz daily along with doing Wuzu (in English, it’s called ablution). Or have you ever wondered why these traditions of lighting candles in Church, or the concept of the Trinity are so trivial in Christianity. Or have you ever eaten the finger-licking home-cooked food in Langar in a Gurudwara?
Now, being a parent if you are following any beliefs or a religion, then there must be this one thought crossing your mind; “How to make my child follow these traditions? What can I do as a parent?” or many times your kid must have questioned you as to why we are following these traditions? Now, whenever you are hit with such questions, you might go blank. But worry not, as we are here to answer some of these questions for you.
Before answering the question of how to make your kid follow these traditions, let’s answer the question of why? We’ll get to its answers through a number of examples:
Let’s start with a simple example of ringing bells in temples. It is believed that hearing the sound of bells can clear out one’s mind. Also, the bells are created in such a way that the sound produced by them creates a balance between the left and right brain. The duration of the echo of bell, activates the seven healing centers of the body. Now comes the question of how to instill this habit in your kid. You can make this as a fun game instead of making it a compulsory thing to do with your kid that whoever rings the bell more loudly wins. Or you can also make this as a competition as to who can reach the bell more easily. Kids love games and if such games are promoting something better so why not? This will motivate them not only to visit temples but also to ring bells. Soon your kid will grow tall and will ring the bell on his/her own. Unknowingly, you have successfully installed a habit in your kid.
We can also take the example of doing Rosa during Ramzan. Now, many thinks that why starving yourself for so many hours a day can do any good. But there are some lesser known facts about fasting too. It reduces cholesterol or blood sugar in elderly, deals with obesity which is one the leading problems in today’s world. Fasting also helps in giving up bad habits such as smoking, drinking, etc. as during the pious month of Ramzan, such activities are considered unholy and are refrained from doing so. Now, this might seem a tough one when dealing with kids. As an incentive, you can keep their favorite food for Iftari (which means the time when Muslims break their roza). And as a prank you can say that they won’t be able to relish those dishes if they break the fast in between.
Note: Do not force kids under the age of 12 to do fasting as this may cause some serious health concerns in kids.
Now, you might have often enjoyed sitting in a Gurudwara and enjoying the delicious Langar food. But your kid might act a little cranky when eating that food. Now, how will you deal with this? First of all, it’s important that you understand why eating in Langar proves beneficial for your kid? When providing food in Langar, there’s no bifurcation among all the people eating there. Everyone is provided with the same type of home-cooked healthy food irrespective of their castes, religion, or gender. This teaches your kid the importance of unity and harmony. It promotes oneness. Now coming back to the question of how to deal with the situation of a cranky kid in Langar. You can make a family tradition that the day you eat in Langar, after the meal you’ll go have an ice-cream or a chocolate cake perhaps. This might cheer up your kid’s cranky mood and help you out.
Let’s see our last example of lighting a candle in a church and hopefully with these examples, you can get an idea on how to invoke these beautiful traditions in your kid. Imagine you walk into this beautiful church and there are candles lit in front this enormous statue of Jesus Christ, and you are feeling this rush of calmness and serenity flowing through your body. You feel at peace. You feel you are at home. You feel safe. All these you are feeling are partly because there are some fragrant candles lit inside the church which often promotes the calm atmosphere. It induces the sense of wellbeing and spirituality. Now you want your kid to experience the same calmness but you don’t know how to do so? Here, we suggest you a little game which can help you with this task in hand. The game is that you and your kid cam compete as to who can light their candles fast.
Now, these are just some few examples and traditions but there are thousands of such traditions out of which few might be aligning with your beliefs. From the above mentioned examples, we hope you get an idea as to how to promote these simple yet meaningful traditions in your kid.
Happy Su parenting!
And do let us know in the comment section below, which tactics you used for your kids to follow up such traditions.