“A child is born to you to help him face his karma in this life. A child is not your ego; not a pet dog in the house; not a substitute for love. A child has nothing to do with that. A child is born to you so that you can prepare him to face time unto Infinity. “ 
-The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan—the Power of the Spoken Word

Our children are given to us as a gift and a spiritual trust. Parents have an incredibly important job. They are the first teachers. Whether a child grows up confident and strong, or mentally and emotionally handicapped, depends on those first teachers.

Primarily, children learn by example. They are super sensitive beings. Yogi Bhajan described children as, “Full-fledged people with high potency antennae which record every vibration within their vicinity completely and very deeply.”  (7/20/76)

When we lie to them, they know it. When we contradict ourselves, they know it. When we fake something, they know it. A child learns through the imprint. We can only imprint them with something that we practice and live, ourselves.

“Every child is born as karma to parents, but also every child is born as karma to himself or herself. There is a double action and mostly people forget this. One is the karma to parents, the other is the karma to the self. In between, a person has to develop, grow and become free.”
–Yogi Bhajan, Women’s Camp, 1977

The key to child-raising is to give a child values. It is not the job of a parent to tell the child what to do. Rather it is the job of a parent to teach the child the difference between right and wrong, and to give the child trust in his or her own identity.

“You have no right to tell the child what to do. The child has the right to know what is good and what is bad. If you teach the child good and bad, the child will never leave you. There’s no better student. You have never accepted a child as a God-given student. You accept the child as your possession. That’s your mistake.” 
-Yogi Bhajan, 7/4/96

“We use our children for security. Then our children use us for security, and life is a mess. Give children their own security: Truth and God. It doesn’t matter if you have lied to yourself, or you have lied in your life, or that your parents lied to you. Just, for God’s sake, speak the truth for the sake of your children, so that they can understand that there is a truth—that is Sat Nam. Give them the true identity of themselves and you will have angels on the Earth.”
-Yogi Bhajan, 8/5-6, 1975

 

Mother - the First Teacher

Give a Child Self Values

Ten Things to do for Your Children

Sadhana for Children