Impart excellent values apart from the Formal Education

Ms. Seema Ahuja

Writing on a topic as vast as ‘Parenting AND Education’ is exhausting, maybe as exhausting as putting the proverbial genie back into the bottle. Or, maybe, as some might like to say, it may be as volatile as releasing the genie from the bottle. But, whatever be the metaphor we use, the task is daunting.

When I was asked to write, it brought back memories from my own childhood. That was the time when Parenting and Education had no dividing line. If it was, it was a very fine demarcation. Education was considered an extension of Parenting and likewise, Parenting was not much removed from the task of Education. I remember when nothing of the home was hidden from the teacher who used to act as a surrogate parent. Advice and suggestions flowed freely. And a friendly ear was always available. Parents and teachers, both gave due respect to each other.

What with the advent of commercialism, of the concept of ‘value for money’ and more of the concept of ‘money’, the changing moral values and the increasing tilt towards a western setup, the fine line dividing line became more ragged, more jagged, till it became a scar. But without going into the lines and scars and everything, let me first address the issues of good parenting and good education and then how to integrate them Parenting is one of the toughest and yet one of the most enjoyable roles you will be offered in this life. The 5

pillars of parenting are:

1. Be What You Want Your Kids to Be
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Involve Yourself in Your Child’s Life
4. Incorporate Discipline
5. Understand your Child

Education throughout life is based on four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be

1. Learning to know.
2. Learning to do
3. Learning to live together
4. Learning to be

So as better to develop one’s personality and be able to act with ever greater autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility. In that connection, education must not disregard any aspect of a person’s potential: memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities and communication skills.And now that the ground is clear about ideal parenting and good education, we need to integrate both the roles, so that a parent is not limited to only his or her part in parenting but also indulges in imparting education to the child, and not merely the formal education and also not by proxy with hiring of tutors and the educator brings up the child to impart him excellent values apart from the formal education.