Cattāri Brahmavihārā

An issue at my sons school has come up recently where he and a few of his freinds are being hit and pushed by a clique of other little ones and it has had an impact on his behavior at home. He has been much more aggressive, less able to self-regulate and even pushed his little sister last night so things have gotten somewhat serious. Nonetheless, I have been fighting my knee-jerk reaction to sweep him up by the arm and get in his face to try to “correct” the issue because I truly feel that doing so would only vindicate the aggressive behavior he is experimenting with.

Besides doing all that we can by bringing the issue up with teachers and administrators at his school I feel the most important thing we can do as parents is to show him that conflict can be resolved and confronted with a calm heart and cool head. If we fly off the handle and resort to harsh words and deeds we will only be contributing to the problem. It is a harrowing thing to raise kids but I have firm faith in the Dhamma and will do whatever is in my power to live as an expression and model of avihimsa for the sake of my son, my family and all beings.

Sabbe satta avera hontu!