“यहाँ से चालीस-चालीस कोस दूर तक जब रात में बच्चा रोता है तो माँ कहती है बेटा सो जा नहीं तो गब्बर आ जायेगा|”
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Being a parent, I often observe other parents, so to learn from them. One common thing I observed is that many parents engage in fear mongering to serve the purpose (to make the child sleep or the feed the child etc).
This is highly insensitive practice.
As per Charak Samhita (The Ayurvedic Authority Scripture)
“न ह्यस्य वित्रासनं साधु तस्मात्तस्मिन् रुदत्यभुञ्जाने वाऽन्यत्र विधेयतामगच्छति राक्षसपिशाचपूतनाद्यानां नामान्याह्वयता कुमारस्य वित्रासनार्थं नामग्रहणं न कार्यं स्यात् |” [1]
“Never ever engage in fear mongering. Even if child does not eat, cries and does mischief, do not engage in fear mongering. Never use imaginary characters like भुत, राक्षस,पिशाच,पूतना etc to threaten them. Do not show them shadows as भुत, राक्षस,पिशाच,पूतना”
This practice subconsciously kills their inborn fearlessness and will lead to mild to severe mental issues in adult life. Avoid. This is the challenge of being parent. Learn creative ways to convince child and not the shortcut i.e. fear mongering or threatening. Such parenting will lead you to loss at the end. Take care.
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Fear mongering (or scaremongering or scare tactics) is the use of fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end. The feared object or subject is sometimes exaggerated, and the pattern of fear mongering is usually one of repetition, in order to continuously reinforce the intended effects of this tactic, sometimes in the form of a vicious circle.
Reference
[1] http://peterffreund.com/Vedic_Literature/charaka/charaka_sharira.html
