About my nephew...

TheFound

Okay guys, my nephew is almost 4 years old.
I'm 24. He's a rare instance of me being able to completely observe his development from age "1 day old" to age "4 years old"...etc... I have other nieces and nephews but they are older ..... and they predate my Buddism.



Anyway what I've observed is completely HORRIBLE!!!

This little boy comes over to my house...and ...it's so harsh ...
he's instantly taught...'ATTACHMENT'..... his parents, and my mother(his grand mother) take delight in seeing him recognize things as "HIS OWN"..
gifts, toys, etc... he seriously walks around to every single thing he can play with....and he abuses it to it's fullest potential until someone tells him to stop...

He's taught that he is an individual...and OMG,

he was looking at pictures of MY grandparents who are ALL DEAD, and he asks "Who are they?"
then...

"WHERE ARE THEY?" and

my family replies "They are DEAD.." you know..."they aren't here anymore"
and lol ...buddha-bless him, he says "Are they in the hospital?"
LOL this coming from a 3 almost 4 year old..
but no we say,

"no they are in heaven.." but Actually to HIS mothers credit, a very smart young woman of maybe 26-30, she says,

"SOME religions believe they are in heaven, ...and some religions believe that they are reborn as flowers...." a very rudimentary attempt at explaining rebirth... I loved that she actually said that to her 4 year old kid though...

ANYWAY
my problem is that this kid is taught ATTACHMENT, he cries INSTANTLY when he doesn't get something that was assigned value..
we have to trick him into thinking that the value of something else is greater...and that is a common strategy,
he is taught PERMANENCE, in many examples,
he is LIED too constantly to stop him from bickering...he is taught to evaluate the level of how attached he should be to something...

like I don't know how to explain my discontent, there is more to it than i can explain...or remember in this one post....things I'm leaving out...

he is taught, selfishness, slyness, coyness, he knows how to be cute, how to lie, (which I actually was a GOD at when I was young...and still am...)

He is really such a little genius ...he can already communicate in two languages to a very decent degree..

it's just ....okay the bottom line is ,

I hate to see him being taught by Samsarians, on how to be Samsaric..
THAT is exactly what they are teaching him as BASIC skills,
ROOT skills ,
skills that people like us take decades to ERASE...

Samsaric skills...


instead of taking his genius and ....

you know this kid is like an "uncarved block"...
I hate to see him sculpted to be another samsarian..

fivebells

Hi, TF. What's your family's other language?

It's tough to see kids raised in a way we don't agree with, isn't it? There's no effective way to correct it, that I've found.

federica

TheFound wrote: »

.....ANYWAY
my problem is that this kid is taught ATTACHMENT, he cries INSTANTLY when he doesn't get something that was assigned value..

This is normal development for a child his age.
remember that he is just a little savage growing into a human world. had he been brought up by wolves or apes, he would mimic their behaviour. so his 'savage' nature is selfish becuse he is acting upon a survival instinct. He thinks not having something threatens his survival.
His CONDITIONING is by his surrounding adults and superiors.
therefore, it is they who condition his responses by their reaction. not him.

we have to trick him into thinking that the value of something else is greater...and that is a common strategy,
he is taught PERMANENCE, in many examples,
he is LIED too constantly to stop him from bickering...he is taught to evaluate the level of how attached he should be to something...

We trick him...he is taught... he is lied to..see? it's not him, it's 'you'.

He is really such a little genius ...he can already communicate in two languages to a very decent degree..

if he's such a 'little genius' he will learn. With the right guidance.
This is a lesson for YOU, not HIM.

I hate to see him being taught by Samsarians, on how to be Samsaric..
THAT is exactly what they are teaching him as BASIC skills,
ROOT skills ,
skills that people like us take decades to ERASE...

Samsaric skills...


instead of taking his genius and ....

you know this kid is like an "uncarved block"...
I hate to see him sculpted to be another samsarian..

You also have the tools.
Use them Skilfully.

DhammaDhatu

TheFound wrote: »

I hate to see him sculpted to be another samsarian..

Great post!

Brigid

Yup. Good observations, Found.