How to treat other Children in front of yours

We always have children at the Ashram and of course for the past three and a half years, we had our own daughter among them as well. She is still the youngest one and while she will always be special to us we are doing every effort we can to teach her one thing: we all are equal. You and the other children are all the same. I think there may be parents who are struggling to convey this message to their children – which is why I am writing this entry today.

We have this one basic principle in our school, I have this basic principle in my life and I want to teach my daughter exactly the same: we are all the equal. There is nobody who is higher than you, you can do whatever everybody else can do. At the same time, there is also nobody lower than you.

Of course, your child will always be special to you. You will feel that your child is more intelligent, more beautiful, just more of everything. This is fully fine and you can enjoy this feeling and also praise your child whenever you feel he or she is doing something very well.

Keep it real, though: children are all the same. Some have more talents in one field and others in another one. It is we who give them training for one action or the other and the possibility to develop their talents further!

At the same time it is we who give them the education of treating each other equally. We should be the example for that. Not only by treating other adults equally, the way that we would like to be treated but also treating other children the same way as we treat our own.

You wouldn’t want your child to be looking down on others, would you? So don’t do this yourself.

My daughter will always be special for me and of course my family as well. She will be our princess – but we have other children living with us. They all are learning the same rules and she also gets told off if she doesn’t stick to them.

Of course, however, she will be the one to eat from our plate and sleep in our bed. She will always be special but I want to teach her that while she is special for those around her, each other person around her is special for someone else. And the more special people you will have in your life, the happier you will be.

We all are equal, we all are special!

And now we are off to celebrate the birthday of Guddu, Pawan’s brother, a boy who is now living with us. It is his special day – we will make sure to make him feel special to all of us!