While it may be easier to correct the behavioral defects in the early stages...

While it may be easier to correct the behavioral defects in the early stages, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to effect these corrections once the habits are formed. Hazrat Ali says: The most difficult politics is bringing about changes in the habits of people. [1] Hazrat Ali also says: Habits settle down upon people. [2] Hazrat Ali says: Habits become second nature. [3] Shunning habits is so difficult that doing it is considered amongst better invocations.

Hazrat Ali says: Overcoming bad habits is amongst benevolent invocations. [4] Another important factor in imparting ideal training to the child is the coordination and cooperation between the parents and other mentors like the grand parents on the program of training to be followed. Their joint effort will produce the desired results. But if any one of them takes a cavalier attitude on the training process, the results may not me as desired. The child should be made aware of its duty.

When the parents give contrary directions the child gets confused. Particularly if they insist on their contrary points of view, there is likelihood of negative results in the process of the training of the child. The biggest difficulty in imparting training to the child is that the father makes a [1] Ghurar al-Hikam, Page 181. [2] Ibid., Page 580. [3] Ghurar al-Hikam, Page 260. [4] Ibid., Page 176. decision about him and the mother or the grand parents insist on a contrary course.

There is always a need for such understanding between the mentors that the child is able to clearly understand what he has to do and the idea of doing anything against this does not enter his mind. Sometimes it happens that the father is well educated and reasonable and the mother of the child is ill tempered and uneducated. Sometimes the situation is reversed, when the mother is better equipped to train the child and the father is not. Many families face this problem.

Children in such families do not receive proper training. But this doesnt mean that they should give up efforts of properly training their children. In such a difficult situation the responsibility become more pronounced. The need in such a situation is to give more thought to the program of educating the child. The parents should make sincere efforts to overcome the lacunae in their character and behavior and give more attention to the children.

With good actions the parents can attract the childrens attention and set a desirable example before them.