Sadhguru’s top 6 parenting tips for new-generation parents

Sadhguru often treats parents and kids with his perspective on the new generation and their lifestyle. He talks about parenthood and how parents should treat their kids. He shares how parents often think of themselves as the ‘boss’ of their kids, but they should be a friend instead. Here are the top 6 parenting tips by him:

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Sadhguru once shared how a parent should be a friend first and said, “However, now a parent’s influence is only 30%, and the rest comes from the creatures of the world. School teachers and friends hardly have any influence on them. Yet, someone outside may have a massive influence over them. Let’s consider that, as a mother, you have the best interests at heart for your children. Your influence is supposed to be the maximum, but that won’t happen if you think you are just a parent.”

Sadhguru then said that a parent shouldn’t act like a boss. Sadhguru even recalled a story that left many wondering about parent-child dynamics. He said, “A parent is a boss that nobody likes. If they want to share something, they will go outside and share it with their friends. And you know why? It’s because they think their friends are sensible and their parents will not understand anything.”

Sadhguru reflects on parents’ expectations from their kids. He said, “Your child needs a friend, not a boss. I remember when I was in Chennai, I met a man who was extremely worried about his daughter. He said that his daughter was not focusing on her studies and that her examination was coming up. When I asked him what age his daughter was, he said she was four. I was shocked and said, ‘You don’t deserve to be a father.’ I told him that she is a four-year-old, and you are worried about her math scores or how much she is studying for the examination? Your children come through you, not from you, and that is why it is important to be their friend first.”

Sadhguru spoke about the influence that parents had on their kids previously and now. He said, “You make your children’s lives miserable by thinking that you’ll make them achieve what you did not. You’re not a boss; you don’t own them. Your child needs a friend a friend who reaches out and plays with them. The whole significance of being a parent has changed over the past 25 years. Earlier, parents used to have 60–70% influence, and the remaining 30% came from outside exposure. This was because you hardly met anyone except your family, some relatives, and friends. The only exposure was that, and what you read or saw in a movie.”

Sadhguru said, “A child is not made to worry unless he’s being constantly groomed as to how to worry about everything. By the parents and the teachers examination is coming, are you not worried? You sit and worry about something, you think it’s a virtue? No, it’s a disaster. Because you don’t know how to handle your own faculties, your thoughts are getting into compulsive mode and you’re worrying.”

Sadhguru shared his take on this generation of parents and kids. He said, “Once you make a virtue out of it, well, they’ll pick it up as early as possible. Compared to any generation which has lived on this planet ever in the history of humanity, we are eating better, we are nourished better, better communication, better transportation, better everything, isn’t it? But we are cribbing like nobody else ever did. So, let the next generation not learn to crib at a very early age. It’s very important that they appreciate what is there.”