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A small baby slowly learns to become physically independent of its parents as it learns to crawl and trot around. Yet for food, clothing, shelter, and emotional support, it needs parents/elders. As parents and elders, our main responsibility is to train our children to grow independent of us and teach them skills to face life even when we are not around.
Schools are an excellent learning ground for children to acquire knowledge and learn various skills and competencies necessary for personal and professional growth. Though knowledge is given, wisdom on when and where to apply the knowledge is not consciously taught. Thus, traditional schooling might not be effective in developing decision-making skills. The reasons being
1. The curriculum is standardized, leaving little room for students to explore, experiment, and make decisions and each school has a structured environment, with clear rules and expectations, leaving little opportunities for students to practice decision-making
2. Authority-centered/Teacher-centered approach: Where authorities/teachers provide guidance and make decisions for children.
3. Standardized testing and grading and inadequate feedback: Testing emphasizes finding the right answer, rather than exploring different options to make informed decisions. Feedback or report card is 90 % focused on grades and performance in extracurricular activities, rather than helping students learn from their decisions.
4. Limited reflection time: Fast-paced nature of schooling can leave little time for students to reflect on their decisions and actions.
Recently many parents have explored home schooling and open schooling options to give the child flexibility to explore so that they can tailor their curriculum. And what a wonderful time we live in, with amazing technological advances with so many courses to learn online! But is this solving our problem of teaching children decision-making? Children have parents to help them choose courses and plan schedules. So do children get opportunities to make decisions and know how to differentiate between right and wrong?
Life is a series of choices, each one leading us down a different path. From the mundane to the monumental, decisions shape our present and determine our future. Thus the art of decision making has to be taught to the child
1. Getting into the wrong company just because some desire of theirs is being fulfilled
2. Being driven away by glamour
3. Getting dejected if they do not get what they want and taking wrong steps based on dejection
4. Unable to take rejections and getting demotivated.
This week’s news reports show a 17-year-old boy from UP, went to a friend’s birthday party and was troubled there. Unable to take in the humiliation, he committed suicide. Another report from Maharashtra’s Sangli district where a 15-year-old boy committed suicide after his mother refused to get him a mobile phone on his birthday.
We as a society fail when a group of youth get thoughts to trouble their friend and drive him to suicide. Our education system fails when youth are not able to handle rejections. Our parenting falls ineffective when we are not able to guide our children in giving correct perspective to life.
We have an incident in Mahabharat where Draupadi was stripped in front of all elders and Kauravas. Her faith in Krishna helps her. Faith in a higher power fosters resilience, provides a sense of purpose and guides in better descision making.
We have a character in Mahabharat, Ekalavya, who was denied archery training. He could have been dejected. Instead, he chose to make an idol of Guru Dronacharya and persisted in learning. His guru-bhakti helped him excel. It was his decision to not get adversely affected and look for ways to fulfill his passions, which makes him a remarkable character.
We have another important character in Mahabharata, Karna, very virtuous but who suffers just because of a few blunders in making decisions.
Effective decision-making is the linchpin of a successful and fulfilling life. Every choice, from the seemingly trivial to the pivotal, contributes to the trajectory of one's life’s journey. Decisions concerning career paths, job opportunities, and skill development carry a profound impact, shaping the course of professional advancement. Strategic decisions can propel individuals towards their desired career goals, fostering job satisfaction and personal growth.
Bhagavad Gita, a sacred text which captures Lord Krishna’s advice to Arjuna, was given in a battlefield when Arjuna was confused. Thus the story of Mahabharata, with its varied characters has lot of life lessons for each one of us: How decisions rooted in knowledge and understanding dispel confusion.
The understanding of characters, the story line of Mahabharata and the life lessons of Lord Krishna, helps one educate oneself about our options, reflect deeply, and to trust our inner wisdom when choosing a path.
The Bhagavad Gita, provides profound guidance for decision-making by addressing the inner dilemmas and conflicts we face. For all modern challenges, Gita has solutions. Its teachings emphasize clarity, detachment, duty, and wisdom, making it a practical resource for navigating life's challenges.
Children make decisions either due a desire, fear, anger or peer pressure, which can cause them problems. Thus Bhagavad Gita’s relevance today for children is more since it offers many insights on decision-making, including the importance of clarity, focus, and detachment from personal desires.
Wondering where you could find a place where your child could learn stories of Mahabharata and lessons of Bhagawad Gita joyfully? A place where values education for children can be provided?
Bambinos.live offers online spiritual classes for kids where children enjoy learning the stories of Mahabharata, focusing on each character and learning lessons from each character and incident. As they progress to the Bhagavad Gita, children learn precious life lessons from Gita: the basis on which to make thoughtful, balanced, and purpose-driven decisions. Through stories and discussions, they learn applying Gita lessons.