Home | Peace Of Mind | Children
QUESTION: I am a Special Education teacher. I work with children who have emotional problems and other problems. They always say, "Why do you care? Nobody else ever cared about me." At times they might not pay attention to what I say, but they will fight over who gets my affection. So when one needs more help than another, I have to deal with that. But then the other one will get angry and want to fight with me. Then a third child comes up to me, and the one that wanted to fight me will start to fight that child. So what do you do when you give your all, and it still does not seem to be enough? BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN: For what purpose did you go to that school? QUESTIONER: Because the children have emotional problems and learning problems. BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN: You went there to teach. Do they have the wisdom of a teacher? If they did, they could teach you. But since they are at a lower level, they have the qualities of ignorance, playfulness, and naughtiness. They might bite or punch or scold or cry. These are their qualities. That is why they need to learn from you. So what must you do? You must be a supervisor, a master. And a master must have patience. If a dog has eight puppies, they bite each other trying to get at her nipples for milk. If she escapes from them and lies down somewhere else, they chase right after her and continue to bite at her. Even then the mother manages somehow or other, doesn't she? Like that, you too must have patience and compassion. When they start pulling at you from all directions, you must be able to bear it all. That is the way a teacher must act. QUESTIONER: I don't like to scold them. They are high school children and when I do scold them, they get so upset that they become violent. They are not supposed to have this violence in them, but they do. How should I deal with them? I am patient with them. I talk nicely to them. I go through this every day. BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN: The times are changing. Parents themselves are not acting correctly nowadays. The children are in a degraded state because the father and mother have not brought them up properly. The parents' bad qualities have come into the children. That is why they are troublesome. You are called a teacher because you can change those qualities and make the children peaceful through the qualities of God. Since it was through love and lust that their parents gave birth to them, it is with love and wisdom that you have to bring them up. You must be both a father and mother to them. That is the only way they can improve—through wisdom, love, and patience. That is what your job is. April 9, 1979 Muhaiyaddeen, M.R. Bawa. Questions of Life – Answers of Wisdom Volume 1. Philadelphia: Fellowship Press, 1991. 58-59.
Article Source: http://www.wisdomarticles.com
www.wisdomarticles.com
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
