By Jacob Peenikaparambil
Indore, July 5, 2020: Universal Solidarity Movement (USM) in Indore on July 5 conducted a webinar for the parents of Carmel Convent Senior Secondary School, Gwalior in two sessions.
As many as 325 parents attended the program in the morning session and 385 in the evening. USM team members, Neetu Joshi and Neetish Kumar, supported Father Varghese Alengaden in organizing the webinar.
Many parents sent their feedback appreciating the views, ideas and experiences shared by Father Alengaden in his two-hour address to the parents. They want such programs every year. “It is very interesting and motivational and this kind of webinar is to be given to the students also”, remarked Ravi Rajpoot, one of the parents. “You have touched each and every topic related to our kids” wrote Deepti Goel, another parent.
The theme of the webinar was “Role of parents in the education of their children.” Father Alengaden highlighted the challenges faced by parents in mentoring their children, especially the growing tendency among students to commit suicide, their involvement in crime and various kinds of addictions, especially to mobile phones and internet.
He also made the parents understand the meaning of education by explaining the definition of education given by Swami Vivekananda. By giving examples from his own experience he explained to the parents how they should focus on building the character of their children, increasing the strength of their mind and expanding their intellect so that they would be able to stand on their feet.
The most important part of the webinar was practical tips Father Alengaden shared with the parents. A few of them are the following.
• Spend quality time in the family every day, especially with children.
• Know the friends of the children; crimes and drug consumption are often due to the influence of unhealthy friendship.
• Be modest in the celebration of birthdays of children both at home and in the school. Avoid any display of wealth.
• Help children to have their own dream/vision for their life rather than imposing on them the unfulfilled dreams of parents.
• Train the children to respect their teachers. Never speak ill of the teachers in front of the children.
• Create a cordial atmosphere at home and respect women in the family. Avoid quarrels in front of the children.
• Getting honest parents to children is the greatest wealth. The greatest wealth the parents can hand over to their children is sanskar.
• Never defend the crimes and mistakes committed by children. Correct them without humiliating or offending. No labeling and putting down the children in front of others.
• Sometimes parents have to deny the requests or demands of their children, but do it after making them understand. Not all medicine is sweet.
The Parents’ seminar is one of the popular programs of USM. Father Alengaden has conducted 196 such seminars in 22 states of India during the last 15 years. He addresses some 15,000 parents in a year.
In order to overcome the limitations imposed by the lockdown due to Covid 19 USM has decided to conduct a series of webinars for parents in the coming days.