Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 192
! ! 192 children is due to the parents being rich or poor. In both cases , two weaknesses are c ultivated in children , which I will elaborate upon later. The poor develop certain faults due to poverty and the children of the wealthy develop certain flaws due to comfort and affluence. I have observed that some affluent parents give their children so much money that their habits and morals are ruined , and they go astray. If a child has more money than is needed to fulfill his immediate needs , he attracts bad company and immoral behavior. Immoral children with no money of their own to support their immoral behavior , begin to look for wealthy boys to befriend, so as to use their money to indulge their own weaknesses , while destroying the other boy’s morals in the process. I do not suggest that c hildren should not be handed money at all, for it is also nece ssary to give children an allowance according to their needs , for them to learn how to spend it. However, they should not be giv en so much that it remains unspent because s uch a situation will attract mischievous and dissolute boys who will ruin their morals and lure them astray. Since they do not gain anything by befriending poor boys , th ose who are wayward entrap those who are well off. They search for wealthy children to support their bad habits. I was extremely surprised to hear a respected friend of mine give his child a monthly allowance of fifty rupees , simply as pocket money. H e actually said, “I hav e reduced his monthly allowance from before. I give him this much money so that he remains happy while living in Qadian. ” He is a very pious man and although his son is still a child, it is my understa nding that he is also sincere. However, this approach is likely to corrupt the child’s morals. A child should be given only so much pocket money every day that would take care of his daily needs. The parents should then evaluate whether or not their child is spending his money based up on his needs. First , they should ask t he child why he needs the money. F or example , does he wish to buy cantaloupes, mangoes, or something else? Next, they should determine whether or not he actually spent his money on that item. If supervised in thi s way they will be saved from falling into waywardness , and dissolute and ill - mannered boys