A Mother's Guide to Raising Fine Pre-teens-2

Without naughtiness, childhood isn't complete. Kids are born with a streak of naughtiness - it is natural. Yet, sometimes, they go out of control and that's what a mother doesn't want. Are you one of those anxious moms searching for a solution to your kid's naughtiness? Congratulations! Your search ends here! In our second challenge, we bring to you out-of-the-box solutions to deal with your naughty kid. Well, this is a skill and you have it. You've just got to nurture it.

Challenge #2: Dealing with the naughty, the naughtier, and the naughtiest

Tip #1:

You can prepare a red star chart for them. Classify the chart for different aspects of a kid’s life, like "brushing my teeth", "polite behavior", "completing my homework", and "helping my friends". You can add a red star for every good thing he does and no star for something that is not appreciated. And you can promise your kid a gift if they score 50 red stars in one month. This will always keep them enthused to give their level best.

Dear Mothers, you’ve got to accept that it is okay if your kid is naughty—they think this is the right way to have fun. But should they have their way? Teaching them right values is important. But, instead of scolding, you may come up with really creative ways to help rectify their mistakes.

Find ways to keep them busy – ask your kid to feed the birds outside, help you with cooking, or send them to some hobby classes in their free time.

Second, it is important you get into the "appreciative mode" instead of the "scolding mode". Often, we forget to appreciate kids when they do good things. But when they do something wrong, they are scolded. Make a shift from no appreciation to appreciation in the way you handle them and avoid scolding them as much as possible. Children recognize appreciation and respond to it. It will motivate them to do things that are appreciated instead of those that are not.

How Meditation Helps?

To every mother, her child is the best. They definitely deserve appreciation for doing things

TIP#2:

Avoid giving sweets to kids. Eatables that are high on sugar, like chocolates, make them hyper. With the burst of energy, kids become restless, often doing things that we do not appreciate. It doesn’t help them focus either. Avoid giving them substitutes like sugar-free drinks as well. It has its own set of side-effects. So, moms, from this day onwards, your challenge is to regulate how much sugar your kid consumes!

well. You can appreciate them more when you observe their goodness with patience. Qualities of patience and observation can be nurtured when you are calm and peaceful. A meditating person is a calm person. Start your day with 20 minutes of meditation before your kid wakes up. Meditating regularly will change your attitude from reacting instantaneously when kids make mistakes to responding with awareness and skill. Interestingly, meditation can also make you ultra-creative with your child, so you can come up with new ideas every month to mold his clay-like self into a beautiful person.

Would you like to try a meditation online guided by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar?

To Moms, With Love…

Bringing to you celebrated moments of motherhood that a mom would love to share…

Story #1: A mother knows best. She knows when her kid is up to mischief and when they need her most. Geeta shares a similar story of the blue sprinkler.

My daughter, Tanya, is good at aping, and it was fun till one day she got herself in trouble.

One morning, she found me chanting mantras and sprinkling holy water all over the place. For her, the sprinkler was something new and fascinating. She raced towards me to say, “Please, please, mother, give me the sprinkler.” Her look promised mischief, but I gave way to the innocence in her voice. She went around gaily, sprinkling water all over the place.

Things were going fine, till one day Tanya returned with a look that had something to say. But her skirt said it all—she had ink all over her tunic. “What happened?” I asked, and Tanya just slid the teacher’s note into my hands. "Dear Parent, meet the class teacher before assembly. Regards, Dimple".

I looked at Tanya, who pulled out the ink bottle and the sprinkler from her bag only to burst into tears. I was shocked as I wiped her tears and peeped inside the bag. “Oh! So you celebrated inky day.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed and sobbed. It was a disaster for sure and I just waited for the next morning.

The teacher informed me the next day that Tanya had brought a big ink pot and the holy sprinkler to school on the previous day. During lunch time, she sang and sprinkled ink all around. Tanya messed up the class, note books, and many uniforms. “Since yesterday, I’ve been getting calls from so many angry moms. This should not happen again”, said the teacher.

I went back home with a heavy heart. I did not scold her. After lunch, I asked her to write apology notes to all moms. I did not tell her what to write and this is what she came up with: "Dear aunt, I am sorry for messing up the notebooks, tunic, and my friend’s day. I promise to be good like always. Forgive me for being bad, but smile again and don’t be sad. Love you, Tanya."

All said and done, the sprinkler did it all, as I found a poetess and writer who has now grown so tall.

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Is your kid always glued to the television – morning, afternoon, and night? Are you finding it difficult to restrict his viewing? Don’t worry! We’ll tell you how easily you can deal with this challenge in the sequel to this article.

Do you have an experience of adventure, wit, and inspiration to share? We'd love to hear your side of the story and share it with our readers.

Write to us at webteam.meditation@artofliving.org.

Author: Ravisha Kathuria

Ravisha Kathuria, a passionate writer, has just begun dabbling in the world of words. Through her articles, she conveys the beauty of the ancient knowledge of meditation in its simplest form that are easy takeaways for the readers.

The author has written this article based on meditation inputs by Bharathy Harish, Sahaj Samadhi Meditation Teacher