14
Generation Gap
How should a father behave towards his children? A father
should never exercise the fear of power over his children or be
overly strict.
Questioner : What if the children keep troubling him?
Should he be lenient with them even then?
Dadashri : It is the father’s fault that his children are
troublesome. They only bother him because he is uncertified. The
law of the world is that unless a father is unfit, the children would
not bother him.
(P.74)
Questioner : What if the son does not listen to his father?
Dadashri : The father should realize that the fault lies within
him only, and leave it at that. If you knew how to be a good father,
your child would listen to you, but you really have no idea about
how to be a good father.
Questioner : Once a man becomes a father, will his
children ever leave him alone?
Dadashri : How can that be? That would be impossible.
Just look at how puppies scrutinize their parents for the rest of
their lives. They watch their father going around barking while
their mother is the one that does the biting.
The father is always the one who is blamed because he is
always the one who is vocal. The children will always tend to side
with their mother. So I warned a man that unless he treated his
wife well, his children would take him to task when they are grown
up. This has been the experience of many fathers. Children observe
their father when they are young and helpless and as soon as they
grow up, they will repay him, no matter what it entails. (P.74)
Questioner : Does that mean the fault lies entirely with
the father?