Interview with Father Nguyen, Tam Thuong by Tieng Noi Viet Nam

About Raising Children

Raising a child should begin even before the child is born. The parents must change their attitudes and pick up good habits so that the child can enter into a world filled with love. Children are heavily influenced by their environment and adults must be role models. If you see your neighbor’s child behaving badly you should correct him or her. This will build a strong moral community because your child can also be influenced by other children.

An important question parents should ask themselves is: What do we want to leave our children? If the answer is to raise a child who will be successful, a contributor to society and morally strong then spend more time teaching them. Parents must spend more time with their children, love them, and guide them. It is not right to give your children toys and material goods to substitute for quality time together because they will only learn bad habits.

Vietnamese and Western culture are different in our views to raise children. Even though the cultures are different, it is every parent’s goal to have their children become good and productive people. We must always keep an open mind and assimilate some good points in Western culture and keep good points from Vietnamese culture. Parents should balance and not become too involved in their children’s lives or too little involved. Both parents should be equally firm and disciplinary towards the children. If there is a dispute amongst both parents discuss the problem behind closed door, not in front of the children. Both parents must work as a team to discipline the child and place emphasis on us and not you or I.

Remember that our children are the fruits of our love, you must always cherish them.