In today’s world, where people are so tied up for time that they can see and think nothing but for themselves, the parent-child relationship is standing at the brink of a deep crisis.
As a young, modern society, we seem to have lost a huge part of our compassion towards our parents. We’ve become insensitive to the core values we were taught as children.
Like us, even you must have been raised by parents who believed in the validity of a handshake and touching elders’ feet, and the importance of treating others as they themselves expected to be treated.
But these virtues have lost out in the huge divide that has cropped up between the parents and children of today.
While the world progresses, the parent-child relationship is faced with the realization and loss of these basic rules that binds our lives.
It is with the thought of trying to bridge this divide (that seems a herculean task), here’s an initiative called A Letter to My Child – a repository of life lessons for parents (and from parents) who want to impart lifelong lessons to their children but don’t know where and how to start.
The legendary investment thinker Charlie Munger once said, “All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there.”
A Letter to My Child will try to be that guiding light for children (via their parents) who are facing the danger of losing their way in this big, random, fast-moving world…and are at a grave risk of dying morally, culturally, and emotionally.
We will never try to preach lessons here – for preaching is not what a child understands – but try to handhold them into a life full of caring, compassion, and integrity for themselves and fellow beings.
This is probably the best gift of gratitude we as children can offer to our parents, who may have taught us the same lessons. After all, everything we learned…we learned from our parents. It’s now time for us to pass on those lessons to our children.
We can imagine a world where every child can keep his or her head held high, unwilling to bow down to the frenetic pace of life and the pressures that it brings along.
It would indeed be a wonderful world.
What do you say?
P.S. Kindly visit A Letter to My Child and let me know what you think of this initiative.
Sudarsan Ravi
Happy Birthday Kunal! Thank you for sharing. The last four points completely struck the chord with me.
Neerja Singh
Hi Vishal,
I spent some time on Letters to my child this morning. Interestingly I am a writer from my previous avatar (now we are in business) and to keep my soul alive, I write what I call ‘heritage’ books. I write these for elders who see their families scattered around the globe, their grandchildren no longer in daily contact, children too busy and distanced to spend time with their kids.
While properties and tangible possessions can be easily passed on to the next generation, the values learned by hearing real-life stories from our elders, the spiritual lessons picked up from observing them and humanity imbibed from seeing how they interact with those less fortunate are irreplaceable – and I attempt to bridge that gap with these books printed for every member of the family.
While I am fan of stories as teachers, in my personal opinion straightforward moral instruction goes down with difficulty at any age, and especially with kids. Take the poem “Be Thankful”, for example. Our children would learn the hows and whys of gratitude far better if they simply observed US being grateful. For the good and the ‘bad’, for the rich times and poor, in sickness and in health if we displayed the strength of our own faith by living with gratitude, our kids would have truly learned something of great value.
While the site is a great idea and may become a rich source of inspiring, touching moments when your daughter is older, right now I hope she is actually getting to spend the time she needs, actually talking, playing, laughing and praying with you! Wishing your family every happiness,
Neerja