Paradise Under Your Feet — Page 88
88 Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih IV (rh) emphasized the importance of teaching sons to respect women and warned of the long-term dangers of neglecting this. He said: “ In most homes, not only is there a strong wish to have a son, but also mothers want it more than men. When they give birth to boys, and even if they have quite a few of them, still they (the boys) are spoiled and there is no respect for girls. The result is that these men become unjust and they mistreat women when they grow up. See how one generation leaves an adverse effect on the second and then the second leaves an adverse effect on the third. Thus, if you want to be merciful to yourself then give your sons good Tarbiyat and tell them about the rights of women from early childhood. ” 5. 7 One of the great mistakes that parents often make in the Tarbiyat of children is to treat sons differently from daughters by giving them much more freedom and leniency than their daughters. For example, parents may allow their sons more freedom to go out with friends and stay out late, but girls are restricted from doing so for their own protection. Although daughters usually complain that this is unfair to them, in actual fact the parents are being unfair to their sons and are doing them a disservice because they are not making the same effort to protect their sons from the ills of society. Thus, both sons and daughters should be equally restricted from indulging in practices that may expose them to harm. Communication Communication is one of the most important aspects of any relationship. Lack of open communication between parents and children leads to unnecessary tension between the two groups. This is especially prevalent among immigrants who come to America from eastern countries such as South Asian countries, and whose children