Answering the Tough Questions: Parenting Experts Weigh In

1. How Do We Raise Confident, Happy Children?
By Simi Yellen, as told to Barbara Bensoussan

Many parents think that you can build a child’s self-esteem simply by showering her with constant compliments. Others believe that a child will gain self-esteem by feeling successful all the time; hence, they bend over backwards to make sure that happens. For example, if the homework is too hard, they’ll call the teacher to ask for an easier assignment.

These strategies only backfire in the end. They hinder rather than help a child develop real self-esteem. If a child never faces challenges, she’ll never learn how to push herself or how to function in less-than-ideal situations. If you constantly set a child up to win, she will never learn to lose. But knowing how to lose is an important life skill.

This isn’t called tough love; it’s called real life. In the real world, nobody is going to smooth everything over for your children all the time. The biggest gift you can give your children is to allow them to work through less-than-ideal situations. Let them develop the psychological muscles they need to cope with hard challenges. Too many kids today grow up without having acquired the ability to work hard to accomplish a goal.

A fourth-grade class was assigned a rebbe who had a reputation for being difficult. The students’ parents handled the situation differently. One set of parents coddled their son. They righted any wrongs, brought their complaints to the administration and basically shielded their child from dealing with the situation. Another set of parents told their son, “Not every rebbe is easy to deal with, but in life, not every boss is easy either. Your job is to learn as best as you can despite the circumstances.” They made it clear that whining and complaining his way through the year was not an option. They didn’t coddle him, but when the year was over, they praised him for having gotten through it so well.

The lesson carried over into the months that followed. If his sister annoyed him, his parents would remind him, “Hey, you just got through ten months with a hard rebbe; this is nothing for you!” Having endured a difficult situation allowed their son to build character and gave him the confidence that he could handle other bumps on the road of life.

Parental love is a necessary ingredient in instilling self-esteem—as essential as flour in a cake recipe. If a child doesn’t receive enough time, attention and affection, and a sense that his parents believe in him, it will be hard for him to feel confident—even as an adult. It’s not so much about the reality of the situation as it is about the child’s perception of the situation. A person who felt emotionally deprived as a child may make bad decisions in life because he may misinterpret attention—including inappropriate forms of attention—as love. He may grow up seeing himself as unworthy or inferior, and will see every deficit as evidence of his unworthiness. For example, a child with a positive self-image who’s not good at sports can still feel okay about himself knowing that he’s good at other things; a child with low self-esteem will see his failure in sports as part of a larger picture of inadequacy.

Since our children spend most of their day in school, if a child isn’t a strong student, it’s incumbent upon her parents to find other areas in which she can excel. If there’s no stage on which a child can shine, the parent has to build her one.

Identify your child’s strengths and find an arena where they can be displayed, allowing him to feel worthwhile. For example, I know a few boys who are in charge of the local shul’s seudah shelishis, a meal attended by hundreds of people. They know they have a responsibility; if they don’t come, congregants won’t have a seudah. There are other children who raise tzedakah for various causes or who work with younger children, helping them with homework, et cetera.

A young boy I know is dyslexic, which makes it difficult for him to read and process information. His father researched if any of the gedolim were dyslexic but couldn’t find such a role model for his son. When it became clear that his son probably wouldn’t be a gadol hador, his father began pointing out the names of benefactors prominently displayed on the walls of neighborhood yeshivos. He would tell his son, “You see these men? They’re businessmen. It’s because they’re so successful in business that we’re able to have a kollel.” He showed his son that there’s more than one way to be a successful and influential Jew.

If there’s no stage on which a child can shine, the parent has to build him one.

Another parent had a child with disabilities related to language processing. Whenever the child would make an insightful comment, the father would say, “You’re smart as a whip!” The child internalized that he has the ability to understand things well and is very bright. He viewed his language-processing deficiencies as a problem to work on, but he didn’t perceive himself as being dumb as a result of his learning difficulties.

Parents’ attitudes toward grades also make a big difference. You can communicate to your child that effort matters much more than grades. You can say, “Your 75 means much more to us than another child’s 95, because we know how much effort you put in. Hashem’s in charge of the results, anyway.” The truth is that bright kids sometimes don’t learn to work hard, and it doesn’t serve them well later on. As mentioned earlier, a child needs to learn about hard work and effort. Parents can also model the right way to deal with tough situations by openly discussing their own struggles with tasks or difficult people.

We want our kids to be happy. But what people often don’t realize is that happiness is a by-product, not a goal. You can make a crying child happy by giving him a lollipop, but that’s just a short-term fix. In the end, you do him a disservice by depriving him of the opportunity to learn how to deal with disappointment. You create a self-centered child with a sense of entitlement, who will be more unhappy in the long run when things don’t go his way.

Real happiness is ultimately based on spiritual satisfaction, on doing the right thing and having simchah shel mitzvah. Mitzvos and good deeds produce intrinsic satisfaction that doesn’t require rewards like lollipops or stars on a chart. One of my clients was recently on her way into the house laden with packages when one of her children surprised her by offering to help. When they finished, this boy—whose teacher is big on charts and stars—asked her, “Mommy, will you give me a star?” She answered, “No, but you’ve got something better than a star.”

The child asked, “What’s that?”

“You have good middos,” the mother replied.

“Ah,” the child said, nodding wisely. “Yes, that’s much better.

Simi Yellen has been positively transforming homes for over a decade through her teleconference parenting classes and private consultations. Her ten-week series entitled “Raise the Bar Parenting” empowers parents to raise respectful, responsible and cooperative children through curtailing arguing, chutzpah and other negative behaviors.

Barbara Bensoussan has worked as a university instructor and a social worker, and currently writes for Jewish newspapers and magazines. 

2. Why We Need to Talk to our Children about Sexuality
By Yocheved Debow

As Orthodox Jewish parents, we strive to convey our commitment to halachah to our children. Imparting these values requires time and thought, and we therefore send them to schools which offer a thorough Jewish education. However, in the area of sexuality and relationships, about which most children—and particularly adolescents—show curiosity and interest, and about which the halachah has clear opinions, we, and the schools we send our children to, often choose to be silent. This silence itself communicates an important message. Not talking about sexuality, especially when it is so much talked about in movies and the media, gives an implicit message that Judaism is at the very least uncomfortable about sexuality or, worse, has nothing positive to say on the subject. In addition, there is no avoiding the automatic association that when parents refuse to talk about these topics, children perforce conclude that sexuality is bad and shameful.

In order for our children to view a Torah lifestyle as being relevant to them, they must experience Torah as addressing issues that concern them. Talking about sexuality and relationships from a halachic perspective helps our children appreciate the wisdom and relevance of Judaism to these significant aspects of their lives, and by extension, to their lives in general.

Why Do We Hesitate?
We often fail to educate in these areas because we feel ill-equipped to approach them properly. The topics of sexuality and intimacy can be complex and awkward. However, if we do not provide a thoughtful, open, honest forum for discussion, our children will look for information and a value system elsewhere.

Is Your Child Ready to Discuss Sexuality?
When considering what to tell your children about sexuality, it is helpful to consider the following factors:

· Child’s milieu
· Child’s maturity
· Openness in the family
· Norms of the community

Child’s Milieu
Who are your child’s friends and what is the nature of the information these friends might have? Is it likely that they are more aware than your child? Does your child watch television? And if so, what shows does he or she watch, and how often? Are there filters on the computer he uses, or is your child able to watch and explore whatever he chooses? Is your child an avid reader? If so, what is she reading? All of these factors will impact on how much access they may already have to information and can factor into your decision about what you would like to share with your child.

Child’s Maturity
Do you think your child is mature enough to be able to differentiate between private and public? Will your child be able to respond to your conversation maturely, or will he become embarrassed? If you consider your child not so mature but she has asked questions, it is especially important to answer thoughtfully, perhaps beginning with partial information and moving on to more detailed information only if the child continues to question. Remember to find out what your child already knows and what she is really asking.

Openness in the Family
Each family has its own rules about what can and cannot be discussed.  If your family speaks openly and easily about personal matters, the question of how to initiate a conversation about sexuality will not be too difficult. In families in which there are rarely conversations about personal matters, parents might need to be more thoughtful as to how, and at what age, they will want to broach these topics. Remember that your comfort level is also important here; try to ensure your own comfort if at all possible.

Norms of the Community
While you may choose to be really open about sexuality in your family, or quite the opposite, very hesitant to speak about sexuality, be aware that your children spend much of their lives outside of the home. Be cognizant of the norms in your community; recognize that they constantly change as norms in secular society become more permissive. Children often walk around with partial information pieced together from comments by friends, fragments of television shows or parts of conversations they have overheard. If that might be the case for your child, the sooner you start a conversation with him in these areas, the sooner he will come to understand that you are, in fact, a very good resource for honest, accurate information about sexuality.

We must employ age-appropriate, correct information in order to provide an alternative message to those they absorb from the world around them.

Sometimes we invoke the idea of tzeniut, modesty, and use it as an excuse to avoid discussing such topics with our children. While tzeniut is a core value and certainly applies to the way in which we converse with our children about these topics, we cannot escape the fact that our children’s environment is already quite heavily saturated with sexuality. Choosing not to talk to our children about these issues will not advance the cause of tzeniut but, to the contrary, will succeed in promoting the values of the general culture and its anti-tzeniut stance as the children’s sole source of sexual values. Openness and honesty are not compromised by sensitivity to tzeniut if properly understood.

It is important that we not delude ourselves. While we all try to protect our children from inappropriate material, we cannot be naïve and think that they are not going to hear, see or know anything about sexuality. For anyone who lives in a community which allows some modernity, it will be difficult—if not impossible—to protect children from at least partial knowledge of sexuality. Whether through friends or the Internet, television shows or books, they will gradually develop ideas about sexuality. Therefore, the onus is on us to speak to our children in the manner and in the context of our choosing. We must employ age-appropriate, correct information in order to provide an alternative message to those they absorb from the world around them.

Support from the Talmud
The Talmud, too, recognizes the importance of teaching about sexuality. In a surprising passage in Berachot 62a, we are told that Rav Kahana hid under his teacher’s bed in order to learn about sexual relations. While his teacher instructs him to leave because his behavior is not appropriate, the Talmud does not criticize Rav Kahana. Rather, it gives him the final word when he explains his behavior saying, “This is Torah, and I must learn it.” And so, in fact, the Gemara explicitly supports the idea that sexuality is an important part of life, that it is natural to be curious about it and that it is the responsibility of parents and educators to share knowledge with their children on these topics. Our children are curious by nature, and this curiosity includes sexuality. One way or another, they will find ways to access the information they seek. Rav Kahana chose a most inappropriate way of learning about sexual relations, by hiding in his teacher’s bedroom. Our teenagers have their own ways of finding out answers to their questions. However, these sources, though easily available, tend to be highly problematic and inaccurate. Our children turn to them when they are curious and have nowhere else to turn. If we choose to engage them in conversation at the right time and in the right context for each child, they will continue to view us as a reliable source of information.

Being Proactive
As parents, we should not only be reactive—forced to respond to the topic because of external circumstances—but rather proactive, broaching the topic and presenting the issues we consider educationally and developmentally appropriate for our child. Children deserve straightforward answers to their questions about sexuality. As they grow older, teenagers should also be taught about Judaism’s nuanced and positive approach to sexuality and pleasure in the appropriate contexts. I believe that speaking clearly about sexuality gives children power to better understand their bodies. Judaism has some deep and meaningful messages about sexuality, and it behooves us to share that relevant, beautiful approach to sexuality which is authentic to our tradition regardless of what the secular culture has to say. Even if my child was truly sheltered and I wasn’t worried about what she would pick up off the street, I would be enthused about sharing the Torah’s view of sexuality for its wisdom, sensitivity and healthy attitude.

The message that sexuality has innate kedushah in the appropriate context is rarely transmitted to our children. By working to overcome our own personal difficulties with these topics for the sake of our children, we can provide an alternative voice—one that is positive and based in traditional Jewish values.

Dr. Yocheved Debow holds a doctorate from Bar-Ilan University’s School of Education. Her research focuses on sexuality and intimacy education in the Modern Orthodox community. She is the author of Talking about Intimacy and Sexuality: A Guide for Orthodox Jewish Parents, published by Ktav and OU Press. Dr. Debow currently teaches at Midreshet Moriah and is the academic principal at Midreshet Emunah v’Omanut. She resides in Alon Shevut, Israel, with her husband, Rabbi David Debow and their children.

3. How Do We Instill Emunah In Our Children?
By Rabbi Ilan Feldman

The best way to instill emunah in children is to pick them up when they cry.

There is a common misconception about emunah. People think of emunah as the result of philosophic inquiry. If that were the case, no real emunah is possible for children; all we can hope for is to get them to talk as if they have emunah and sing songs that assert that God is here and everywhere. Actually, while contemplation might result in emunah, emunah is far more commonly a natural expression of the human condition. When it is absent, it is because something has happened that damages the natural capacity a person has to appreciate and trust his or her Source and Essence.

Emunah is not a mimetic behavior or a skill—or even an attitude. It’s not a thought a person draws upon when encountering tough times; it’s a way of being. For those who live with emunah, emunah is like gravity. Awareness of God as one Who exists, Who knows and cares, Who responds to my existence, Who believes in me and expects things from me as much as I believe in Him—all this is so real that decisions are made and actions are performed much the same way that the laws of physics are taken into account before passing the butter. It is so much a part of reality that one need not think about it. Emunah is not so much a belief as it is a context or a prism through which the world is filtered.

Yet, to live with emunah is to be clear about, and profoundly related to, an ephemeral, non-physical, invisible, unprovable realm whose existence has non-immediate consequences. For emunah to be present, an individual has to be sensitive to the presence of something beside, and beyond, the physical world. This is the challenge of life, felt more acutely in our modern world than ever before, where physical pleasure, power and fame are the currency of value: to live lives in a physical world that are devoted to a mission that exists in a nonphysical world.

The most effective way of passing emunah on to the next generation is to lead lives that embody and express a resounding Amen in the presence of the gifts around us.

The mishnah in Avot (4:21) asserts that three things “chase a person from the world,” meaning, put one out of touch with reality: jealousy, desire and pursuit of honor. Any one of these three obsessions blinds a person to anything spiritual. They are the result of a single-minded focus on material things. They make it impossible to develop the senses needed to perceive the spiritual dimension of life—the reason for life—or even to be aware that there is such a realm. When material things become the currency in which we deal, emunah becomes impossible.

For children to live with emunah awareness, we must reinforce their natural tendency to trust, to depend on their parents. When a child cries, it is not the bottle that makes the difference, but the context in which the bottle is delivered—with love, reliability, connection and nurturance. These are all abstracts, and they point to a domain that is not physical, yet is as real as the bottle. As the child grows, she learns that she is loved, is provided for and can afford to trust without fear of betrayal. The child learns to appreciate, and the child learns that she is loveable as well. These are the foundations of emunah.

The question of imparting emunah to young children and teens is only a concern to parents and a society for whom emunah is a reality. Parents, teachers and other role models who don’t deal with God as a personal reality will have no questions about imparting this awareness to children, which points to the most effective way of imparting emunah to the next generation—living and demonstrating in our own discourse and relationships the opposite of jealousy, desire and longing for recognition. It means passing up opportunities for personal pleasure in favor of spiritual pleasure, which is all about connection to others, and to the Other. And it means living a life of humility, aware as we are that there is a God who put us here for a purpose. Opportunities to make these statements abound in daily family living: in how parents relate to each other, in how religious obligations are met, in what topics dominate casual conversation, in the style of parenting our children experience. Being a reliable and dependable parent, or a loving and loyal spouse, creates the context in which emunah in a God with similar characteristics can thrive.

After a blessing is recited, we respond with “Amen,” a derivative of the word emunah. A blessing affirms awareness of the Source, and expresses appreciation for being the recipient of gifts. Responding with Amen takes the affirmation of the blessing and keeps it alive in the world for others. The most effective way of passing emunah on to the next generation is to lead lives that embody and express a resounding Amen in the presence of the gifts around us.

Rabbi Ilan Feldman has been the rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1991 and has been struggling with emunah since he was five years old.