4) Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Let me go a little off topic here and also quote Steve Jobs here for you as well, "Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." That's exactly what the extension of this Einstein quote is. IMHO. Newton, Galileo, Da Vinci, Tesla, Wright Brothers, you name it and they were called stupid, heretics even - but then the world recognised. Children are full of crazy imaginations and crazy ides, just because we do not understand them does not mean we need to sensitise them. Let them be. Nurture those ideas. Give them a creative vent for those ideas. Whatever they be and you will find they doing amazing things and achieving great things. Whenever, I put him to sleep, me and my son have a routine, sometimes, I tell him a story and then I ask him to tell me a story, whatever comes to his mind, I let his imagination run wild, I just keep asking him detailing questions. so he knows to delve deep in to the story from as early as possible and discuss minute details as possible. Find your own such little exercises. You will be amazed with what children can come up with at such tender age. And never ever be judgemental. The moment we start being judgemental with our kids, they will stop sharing with us things one thing at a time and distance is created. There is already enough judging happening in his life - Teachers, peers, score cards and what not. Home should be a place where a child should have a safe haven.
5) Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
By far, the most important quote of our century. or even history has ever witnessed. Over a period of time, our education system, especially the one post independent era, has produced only work force - labour in percentages of 70% / 25% and 5%. 70% are average neglected kids who are the fishes of the system judged by their ability to climb the tree - they are meant to be 9 to 5 punch carders all their life - created by the system, of the system, for the system - a white color/blue color labour which is needed by the government. Thats how a child's life is ruined even if he is a genius. 25% kids are above average who get good schools, good grades and tend to live their lives by their terms and tend to achieve what they want. Their talents too are may be picked up early on and they are lucky enough to pursue those later in life. 5% are those really lucky ones who get the environment that each child deserves and go on to achieve what they really want. If you want to put your child in that 5% category or 25% category, creating an environment for them and giving them free run for nurturing their talents is of utmost importance. It means going out of the way, every single step.
6) Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
All most all of man's inventions in one or the other way have been inspired by looking at nature; flaura and fauna. We have 33 crore Gods. We worship the 5 "Pnacha Mahabhoot: Earth, Wing, Water, Fire, Ether". Our Science dates back to more than 5000 years. When world was struggling with sex education, we already had an encyclopaedia in the form of "KamaSutra". When world was struggling with modern medicine, we already had "Ayurveda". We need to take pride in our roots and culture and give our children the values and same ethos that have been trickling down from centuries in our lands. As a land of Seekers, not as a land of believers (that's SadhGuru's quote). The more our children draw inspiration of real life from nature, the more they can never go wrong. Even in production engineering, when they advise to research need analysis, the emphasis is made on making lives better and looking at socio-cultural and socio-economic parameters. Nature and Culture plays extremely important roles.
7) All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.
A very complex quote and topic to touch and may need a full blogpost separately for this quote only. Instead of giving him values of religion - giving him values of higher power, is more important. In the vastness of universes, we are part of one, of that of one milky way, of that of one solar system, of that of one planet, of that of one continent, of that, of one country, of that, of one state, etc...etc.....When we think about ourselves like this, we understand how little we know about ourselves and world and universe and this life. In all of this, we only use 12 to 14% of our brain. Teaching our child early on these things - giving him information about such things - arts, sciences and higher power imbibes gratitude and humility in a child from early on. For they understand from early age we are not even of the level of atom in this universe.
Till the age of 6/7 Mother and father need to be child's best friend. After that, discipline them. After being a 14/15 - Again best friends. Listening to them and accepting their perspective is the most important aspect.
Rest we all do mistakes and learn from it. Evolve from them. Such is the nature of life. Our kids can be our best teachers and we can be our kids' best students at times.
Happy life!