Traditional Indian Parenting

In India, traditional parenting is still much more common than Americanised parenting and as Indians, we must take pride in the immense culture and diversity that our country possesses and the rich heritage that we are a part of. Most of us would have been raised under cultural and traditional parenting, often in joint families where we learnt from so many people to get our present personality shaped. However, in this age of westernisation and nuclear families, parents often struggle to impart values of traditional Indian parenting to their children. Needless to say, exposure to western culture and thinking is organic for the children these days, hence to give our children an insight to our culture and values, we as parents have to make conscious efforts.

Shaped by our own cultural and regional beliefs, the roots of traditional Indian parenting are the basic values of non-violence, respect for everyone, honesty and fairness, family ties, discipline and prayer. Spirituality is also a core part of Indian parenting which makes up for comprehensive development of a child, extending the social and personal dimensions of human growth. Indians believe in the concept of life experiences and generation wisdoms, and nourish their children with values and character.

Indian parenting imbibes the qualities of respect, cleanliness, integrity, reading and writing, self confidence, faith and beliefs in the children, making them grounded and much more independent. As parents, it becomes our responsibility to set examples for our children and imbibe the values of our culture in them. As a matter of fact, we should start doing this as soon as the baby is born, since, technically, children grasp whatever they see and form their personalities.

These Indian values are sought by the so called westernised countries, so much so, that we have traditional gurukuls and spiritual centres abroad these days. Back home, they just form a basis of our daily life.