Role Models

[kandahari ella]

What do you teach your daughters? Do you allow them to act like Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Rhianna and others? Or do you encourage them to aspire to be the best of women. We are told, "The best women of mankind are four: Mariam daughter of `Imran, Assiya wife of Pharaoh, Khadija daughter of Khuwailid, and Fatima the daughter of the Messenger of Allah" (Bukhari/Muslim). Give your daughters proper role models!

I feel that this can be applied to sons as well. What do you teach your sons? Do you allow them to act like Eminem, Drake, Lil Wayne and other? Or do you encourage them to aspire to be the best of men. Men like Muhammad, Moses, Isa and Abraham (Peace Be Upon Them). We do need to give younger generations not only proper role models but lead them towards the right path.

I've seen too many times, where parents either allow their children to do whatever they want, or they become so strict with their children that those children end up leading double lives. I know its a hard road, but the last thing, I would want is for my child to lead a double life. It's time to really wake up and set good examples so that they younger generations can follow our paths.

[Admin Khan]

Role models are important but I have distinctive views about this. I agree and admit that role models help us become the person whom we want to be and inspire us to make a difference in our society but in today’s world, does our youth really know how to define who a role model truly is? Experiments in my University on college level students show us not. I for one encourage parents to teach their children to be self-sufficient and to not be dependent on others, sometimes we give someone all we have and when they [role models] end up failing to live up to our expectations[not being the person whom we thought he/she was]we have nothing left but tears. To support my argument, I can use Tiger Woods as an example. You do know that Sports stars are considered “Role models” right? Imagine your child choosing Tiger Woods as a Role model and then he finds out what he did. It wouldn’t have so much of a good influence on him/her now would it? We should be very careful with who our children ‘hang out’ with and who they select as a role model. I would rather let them choose a historical person and look up to his work (whatever the field is) as opposed to a living figure. With that being said, I remember my Philosophy professor who once did a survey on the class on "who is your role model?" and nearly half the class chose famous people. A role model does not have to be a Lil Wayne or someone famous. A role model if you are writer could be someone as simple as your Professor. Fame should have no correlation with being a role model.

It's quite interesting listening to people saying who they admire; it's not always who you think. It's important for people to see themselves reflected in the people who make decisions. A mentor on the other hand is what people need in their life. Ideally, a mentor will not only offer advice but also instill confidence . Mentoring, can go far to dispel stereotypes and can be highly effective in helping someone retain their talent. Successful mentoring experiences have the effect of inspiring someone and helping them become our leaders in our society. Before I go off in a tangent and fill up the whole page with my opinion, parents should not permit their children to consider someone a role model who preaches hate and is the first when it comes to inciting violence. What I find repugnant, however, is the lack of honesty in those people who considers people like Lil Wayne as their role models. Clearly, they do not know what it means to have a role model. Many people don't know what it once meant when someone said "He/she is my role model".

Kandahari Ella, you have raised an extremely good point with your last paragraph. The question is how do we effectively raise our child? We have a handful of expectations from our children but how do we achieve them? Do we implement the carrot and stick policy? Or do we just set up a dictatorship in our household in which only our rules apply? If you choose the latter than what happens to freedom of choice? This is an extremely difficult question to answer but we can tackle it if you want. In my humble opinion, I think parents should ultimately control the decisions of their children until the age of 18. In my part of the town, the age nearby 18-21 is considered the "stupid age". I hope you know what that means. If you don't closely monitor your child’s activities at that age, things could go sour and for the worst.

[Haneef]

not lady gaga or lady ghwa ghwa