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Theme Changer

 Topic: Educating your parents

 (Read 3504 times)
  • 1« Previous thread | Next thread »
  • Educating your parents
     OP - June 25, 2012, 03:37 PM

    I was pretty sure there was a thread on this already, but didn't find anything with a quick search.

    Anyway, I was just about to email a link to my mum to a book on Amazon (the one by Lisa Bloom), about women and smarts/looks etc. So the idea came about 'teaching parents'.

    I was raised not to talk back, and just listen and do as I'm told, as I'm sure many people are and especially under and Islamic culture. Basically not to have any opinion of my own, to express it. So I was thinking how do you/have you overcome that, if that has been an issue for you? I kind of figure that's why I'm also a more passive sort of person rather than pro-active and taking charge, which I am overcoming.

    I've been engaging more over the last couple of years with my parents in talking about global issues, history etc. There's still a sort of line which I'm pushing, be it slowly, to really express my stance to them and try to engage more in a dicussion, rather than an argument (which used to be the case). This is also where the Bengali/English communication barrier (somewhat of a barrier) with my parents becomes an achilles heel.

    What sort of conversations do you have with your parents? how do you initiate them and continue them?

    "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor E. Frankl

    'Life is just the extreme expression of complex chemistry' - Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #1 - June 25, 2012, 03:57 PM

    I don't have time just now. But I didn't want to lose this thread so I'm replying. Not that I'll ever have anything to say but the idea interests me.

    If at first you succeed...try something harder.

    Failing isn't falling down. Failing is not getting back up again.
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #2 - June 25, 2012, 04:01 PM

    I don't have enough contact with them to do this, but I would if I could since I do it to everybody Grin

    Aside from my sister, since she has zero interest in challenging her own views and is very firm and set in her ways.

    Her eyes glaze over when the conversation steers towards anything remotely intelligent, so I just leave her to it.


    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #3 - June 25, 2012, 04:28 PM

    I'm "educating my parents" on my apostasy once I leave. At least on Skype I can sign out if it gets out of hand or mute them if they are guilt tripping me, or emotionally blackmailing me.  grin12
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #4 - June 25, 2012, 04:31 PM

    .
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #5 - June 25, 2012, 04:48 PM

    If I want to discuss something with my parents, I find the best way is to pretend I don't know what I'm talking about (oftentimes it isn't pretend Tongue) and ask them for their opinion. Then when they give it to me, I can ask them more questions, but they're generally leading questions so that we eventually get to the topic I want to discuss. Then I am able to offer my opinion on it in a kind of questioning way, and they feel flattered cuz I was asking them questions, and the entire thing is very respectful and everyone is happy. yes

    When in doubt: be confused. Tongue Confusion is never disrespectful. dance

    Self ban for Ramadan (THAT RHYMES)

    Expect me to come back a Muslim. Cool Tongue j/k we'll see..
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #6 - June 25, 2012, 04:54 PM

    I dont really like talking to mine.. I know they wont change their mind and world view, they just have no interest in changing so there is no point in trying, the only thing that will come out of it is them becoming suspicious of me and I dont need more of that these days..

     Same here. I think he already has inkling of my apostasy and whether he did or not wouldn't curb his arrogance regarding any differing opinion from his own but it certainly wouldn't help things.

    "I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want."
    Muhammad Ali
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #7 - June 25, 2012, 05:00 PM

    .
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #8 - June 25, 2012, 05:04 PM

    ^ Never heard of it. :/

    It's not Socratic irony cuz I don't want my parents to seem dumb. It's good to know their opinion, and it's the best way of asking them without coming across as disrespectful.

    The other day for instance we were talking about my aunt and how, uh.....against common sense her views seem to be regarding certain things. (i.e. she barely talked to my brother in law, my mum was kinda shocked cuz she thinks Islam says to love your family yadda yadda yadda.) and then I stupidly mentioned the difference in our madhabs (my aunt's Wahhabi-ish, we're not), and then my mum got very mad and told me I just learn Islam from books and yadda yadda yadda.

    Had I asked her, "Do you think it's cuz my aunt's son is a Wahhabi?" then she might have been more, like, nice.

    Self ban for Ramadan (THAT RHYMES)

    Expect me to come back a Muslim. Cool Tongue j/k we'll see..
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #9 - June 25, 2012, 05:13 PM

    .
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #10 - June 25, 2012, 05:14 PM

    Ohhhhhhhhhhh. Got it!  Afro Thank you! Smiley

    Self ban for Ramadan (THAT RHYMES)

    Expect me to come back a Muslim. Cool Tongue j/k we'll see..
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #11 - June 25, 2012, 05:15 PM


    2. I laugh my ass off.



    On Step 2 do you ever get any beatings? Cheesy
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #12 - June 25, 2012, 05:31 PM

    .
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #13 - June 25, 2012, 05:32 PM

    (They're Punjabi.)

    Self ban for Ramadan (THAT RHYMES)

    Expect me to come back a Muslim. Cool Tongue j/k we'll see..
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #14 - June 25, 2012, 05:34 PM

    .
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #15 - June 25, 2012, 05:36 PM

    They don't take it personally - we're always laughing at each other's expense. My parents both have a great sense of humour, which they passed on to me. Tongue

    Basically this, yeah. I even swear at them in Punjabi sometimes - in jest, of course! Grin

    That's cool!  great
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #16 - June 25, 2012, 06:01 PM

    im still curious to much of the cultural aspects my mother forces me to go through with it;
    this is the cycle;
    me "why?"
    mother: because we have to, God said so, verse 89, sumthing else, and sometimes a hadith insertion.
    me "but how do you know"
    mother; i am going to beat the hell out of you if you dont shut up, its Islam are you not a muslim or something?"
    me (laughs) ok erm maybe i should be praying or something

     Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy

    "the question is" said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be the master- that`s all."
    Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking- Glass.
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #17 - June 25, 2012, 06:23 PM

    I dont really like talking to mine.. I know they wont change their mind and world view, they just have no interest in changing so there is no point in trying...


    This

    I'm "educating my parents" on my apostasy once I leave. At least on Skype I can sign out if it gets out of hand or mute them if they are guilt tripping me, or emotionally blackmailing me.  grin12


    Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy

    "I'm standing here like an asshole holding my Charles Dickens"

    "No theory,No ready made system,no book that has ever been written to save the world. i cleave to no system.."-Bakunin
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #18 - June 25, 2012, 07:43 PM

    My mum's not too bad when I talk to her about stuff, she's a zombie Muslim anyways so if I'm voicing my issues with Islam I'm usually teaching her something new. If it's a cultural issue it's a bit different though... My comments are usually met with "That's just our culture!! That's just what we do!!"

    My dad is another story; if you disagree with him on anything he proceeds to stick his fingers in his ears and go "LALALALALA IT"S ALL LIES YOU THINK YOU'RE SMART BUT YOU DON"T KNOW ANYTHING!!!". Well, not literally but something along those lines.

     finmad
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #19 - June 26, 2012, 11:17 AM

    As a matter of interest, are parents and children actually sharing a first language or are parents  fluent in their home language and children in English?

    So is there actually a huge complexity to overcome to start with? 

    What are the education levels of parents and children?

    I wonder if some sort of "futuresearch" would help?

    This is a technique where people outline their histories and how they got to be where they are now, they then define where they are now in their lives, and then attempt to map out where they wish to be.

    It might require some diplomatic facilitation so that children for example can clearly state their perspectives!

    The OP mentioned history.  A fascinating question to ask might be about miniskirts!

    http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=19269.0

    Quote
    How religious were older generations?

    ww.ikbis.com/triplem/shot/78949

    Beware music on this site!

    Quote
    "The short skirt was not really worn by many women until 1966 [when Mary Quant introduced short mini dresses and skirts that were set 6 or 7 inches above the knee] and not nationwide until 1967. The mini skirts reached their hayday in the year 1970. At that time,they were worn worldwide by the vast majority of women ,even in many Islamic, Arab, and Middle Eastern countries.In the Middle East ,women wore mini skirts as their daily apparel. From Kabul in Afghanistan to Iran and Bahrain in the Persian Gulf,Egypt,the Levant,North Africa,etc, mini skirts were the trend and it was generally acceptable for many women to wear them, even in the most religious and conservative families and societies.Among women who wore the mini skirts,were most school and university students , teachers and university staff members ,house wives,working classes,employees in governmental institutions,doctors and nurses in hospitals ,etc.This might be surprising to newer generations who never expected mini skirts to have been, at one point in time [1966-1975], so common in the Middle East.Many of younger generations were really astonished,when I happened to show them old photos of their grandmothers,aunts and other older relatives [above 50 ] wearing mini skirts through out their youth .The quick decline of the mini skirt in the middle East began from late 1975,and was virtually non existent by 1977.Since that date,it never again became a popular fashion among ordinary women in working and middle classes.Today , mini skirts are worn in the middle East by exceptionally few women in private occasions [mostly prominent stars in cinema,music,media and TV,but never again among ordinary women as was the case before].They are generally not seen in public except in very few countries as some urban parts of Syria and Lebanon,mainly in festivals.The question then arises,why was this phenomenon so abundant [ more like an epidemic] among Middle Eastern women in both liberal and conservative countries in the years [1966-1975].Why did this phenomenon fade abruptly from 1975 in particular ,and not before or after? A scientific explanation is still needed



    When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.


    A.A. Milne,

    "We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #20 - June 26, 2012, 09:27 PM

    I have nothing useful to add unfortunately, I don't talk to my parents at all any more and when I was it seemed very, very pointless, just alot of heart-ache and pain on my end from the endless onslaught of verbal attacks/manipulation/blackmail/threats etc... No fucking thanks.



  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #21 - June 26, 2012, 09:33 PM

    Is this common here?  Problematic relationships with parents? 

    When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.


    A.A. Milne,

    "We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #22 - June 26, 2012, 10:34 PM

    I have discussed women rights with my mother. And found out she is quite conservative and she said "I am too Western". piggy I am also vocal on how dumb Somali politics is when we are discussing Somalia. It usually ends with her saying to me:"Al-Ma`arri stop hating your people and homeland!". I don't hate I am just frustrated over the ignorance.

    But yeah we don't discuss that much (seems like many other guys are like that from their posts?). When it comes to Islam - i usually attack ulema (clergy), Salafists and niqab. Not the big issues.

    "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
            Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

    - John Keats
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #23 - June 27, 2012, 01:47 AM

    Moisture asked an interesting question along this line: Is parent and child problems common.here?

    It seems they are. I think to some degree they are common any place where child may chose to devert greatly from lifestyle of parent. This is just may opinion from life experience..

    Moi also brought up a question about miniskirts that made me think.

    Most of you are first generation born after the immigration of parents from another culture.

    I'm second generation born after the immigration of my grandparents of my Mom. My Mom was very liberal with her daughters in some things. She very much encouraged miniskirts. She went instrumental in changing school rules so we could wear pants. She let us wear bikinis. But now I am conservative dresse.

    In things that wouid have mattered more like how we defined ourself as people my Mom. Lung to old patterns.  A women defined herself by her husband's accomplishments.

    Moi had a good idea. To really look at the history and where we think we're going..





    If at first you succeed...try something harder.

    Failing isn't falling down. Failing is not getting back up again.
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #24 - June 27, 2012, 08:06 AM

    Excuse me, it is moi, pronounced mwa.  Muppets.  Little Miss Piggy.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWjaOdRwUSc



    When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.


    A.A. Milne,

    "We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
  • Re: Educating your parents
     Reply #25 - June 27, 2012, 08:07 AM

    Quote
    She let us wear bikinis. But now I am conservative dresse.


    Why?

    When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.


    A.A. Milne,

    "We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
  • 1« Previous thread | Next thread »