As I continue to develop a project to study parenting types in the Tibetan community, I have recently read an article that addressed a lot of questions I had regarding how culture and religion play a part in parenting in Tibetan families. This article states that "Often, young children learn to prostrate themselves, hold their hands in prayer, and make offerings of candles, butter lamps, and incense, even before language occurs..." suggesting that there is a very strong presence of religious beliefs incorporated into parenting. Also in the article, I read about how harmony rather than justice is incorporated into parenting. This reminds me strongly of the approach that His Holiness the Dalai Lama takes in "finding the middle road" as my Tibetan teacher T.J.la puts it, in gaining autonomy from China. Reaching the goal of harmony, not necessarily justice, is what the focus of Tibetan government has seem to have been.This belief system seems to be incorporated in the home as well as in the government, as children are being taught to embrace and practice harmony. And example of this is when "[the author's] friend Tashi’s eldest son, Gawa, was asked to give his sister, Chimey, the toy because he is older. Tibetan parents praise the act of giving and creating peace among siblings. Other nationalities of parents often focus upon who’s "right" and "wrong" in taking the toy, creating a sense of "justice" versus "harmony."
Another interesting thing in this article is that "Tibetan children also learn about the continuity and preciousness of all life. Parents teach children to honor each insect, as it may have been their mother in a previous life. It was a common occurrence to see a three-year-old Tibetan child in the classroom "needing to leave" to bring a bug to safety outside and away from stomping feet." T.J.la told us that this was something that he was raised to believe as well, and that Tibetans put a lot of stress on respecting all living things.
My question, then, is this: what other tactics and traditions to parents in Tibet use to teach their children important principles of honor, harmony, respect for all living things, meaningfulness, etc.?
Interesting ... I wonder how author Maureen Healy had learned these things about Tibetan parenting.
ReplyDeleteWhen she writes about the "Tibetan Way," it makes me wonder how uniformly Tibetan families actually fall under this ideal. There's always some measure of variation in a society. For example, despite the strong prevalence of religious influences in Tibetan culture, I know there are large numbers of Tibetans that have been dissatisfied with the political gains a Buddhist approach has or has not won for their people.
What happens in families that helps young children learn religious rituals as this article describes?
Great insights! Just a thought, if you type in the name of the article and author within the link it makes your readers not have to work so hard to see what you are talking about, and then they will be more likely to read it!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see you are using the links though! One of the best features on blogs. :)