How to Talk so Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk

How often as parents we have found ourselves at crossroads not being able to see what is right and wrong in bringing up children. In spite of our best efforts at being responsible parents, we, nevertheless, fear what effect our bearing has on the kids' formative years. At times, when our personalities are at loggerheads, we may be at a loss to choose the right method of action to handle the little vulnerable personalities who so generously give us joy by simply being themselves as our sons or daughters.This book here, believe me, help us to understand kids better.

Communication with my son has greatly improved by understanding his point of view with the help of some techniques taught in this book. 'How to Talk so Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk' by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish is widely popular and is available in amazon.  

Gays are against nature

Lets face it. What is this whole love thing surrounding being a gay? I really don't understand. Love is, in reality, beyond physical relationship, and attraction is not always a prerequisite for loving someone. Any one out there reading this post may not agree with my stand on gays, nevertheless, one cannot but agree that love is beyond physical attraction.

We love our mother, not because she is beautiful; we love our father, not because he is rich; we love our siblings, not because they are the best people in the world. Similarly one may love any human being, animal, or even a non-living thing for many reasons know only to him.

When gays talk about love and ask what is wrong with falling in love with the same sex, it confuses me. Well go ahead and love as many people as you can; isn't that what  we are supposed to do? But when gays refer to love, passionately and deliberately, their basis for such relationship is, sadly not love, but SEX.

In the age of rational thinking and advanced intelligence, blinded men have fooled themselves and have cheated others by equating love to sex to the extent that even when a sane man points it out to them, they deride him as someone opposed to modern values. What is modern about going back to an uncivilized animal state in which there is no other motivation for action except enjoyment? If sex is taken out of gay relationship, would their so called love sustain the test of time?

Having said that love is free of sex, there would be no objection to any one who loves the same sex; it would rather be encouraged by every generation of people, including the spiritualists, modernists and the entire society. One must take in to account that irrespective of misplaced temptations, human physiology does not support this kind of sex.

More so, for those in the path of spiritual perfection, gays or straight, is not the question. A man and a woman come together for the purpose of procreation. Beyond this noble purpose, sex is nothing but a bondage. Bhagavad Gita teaches us to control our senses in almost every chapter and not get carried away by it. Even one uncontrolled sense can spell doom to us. Nature has its way of operation, anything against its natural course would be meted with appropriate results, no matter how inventive the media can be about legitimizing the illegitimate.

Bush Jr not using 'I'

While reading a book on grammar and stylistics, I unexpectedly came across a piece of information that helped me to look at people in a different light. Mr Bush Jr's speech writer faced with an unusual predicament while writing speeches both during his campaign and later when he became the president. Strangely, Mr Bush was not comfortable using 'I'. It may sound unusual at an age when people pounce on each other to make their 'I's heard. Nevertheless, Mr. Bush was visibly hesitant to use the first person singular pronoun.

The reason being, unlike many mothers today, Mrs Bush senior, trained her son not to project himself. She used to rap his knuckles when the little boy bragged. This unknown side of the man who is remembered more for other things, came as an inspiration to me and I recorded it as another 'to-dos' for moms. But before getting my son to learn not to showoff, I needed to learn that myself. Learn and then teach; practice and then preach; that is our thumb rule.

Japa Japa Japa

Even though there are many important things that come to our mind, chanting 16 rounds, told to us by Srila Prabhupada, is the most important activity in a day, which, however, is procrastinated to become the last activity of the day. What is strange is that every day we plan to make chanting the first and foremost activity of the day but by the effect of some unknown, internal or external power, it ends up becoming the last. I often resolve and say, 'this has to stop'.

Many such resolutions are made at sattvic moments sadly weakened when rajas and tamas crush and triumph over the feeble intention. I resolve; I break; I resolve; I break.

Now I have had enough of it; time to punish. No dinner or supper until my rounds are completed. This worked. Believe me, it did.