How important is it for parents to foster an ...

Extremely important.

If you want your children to be open and honest with you then you must teach them that they can trust you to listen and to hear what they are saying without judging.

That does not mean that you should not guide them or discipline them for their mistakes, it just means that you cannot expect your children to be honest with you if you do not teach them that it is safe to do so.

Scientific research appears to support a key principle of the Ananda schools: that “Children who learn to love, love learning.”

For example, scientists at Heart Math Research Center in California have studied the effects of positive feelings such as love and compassion and kindness on the body and brain. Here are some of their findings:

* Deliberately focusing attention in the heart while cultivating feelings of love and compassion, etc. This leads to clearer thinking and calmer emotions and improved physical performance and health.
* The positive feelings quiet the mind and generate a sense of ‘self-security and peace and love,’ and increase the frequency of the feeling of ‘connectedness to God.’
* Negative emotions such as anger and fear and hatred make the heartbeat change the speed erratically. The heart literally speeds up and slows down chaotically from one beat to the next one, like the jerky motion of a car that’s running out of gas. They have also studied children’s heart rate in the position of anger, relaxation and appreciation. The heart’s power output is approximately 380 percent higher during feelings of ‘appreciation’ than simple ‘relaxation’.
* The heart and brain communicate continually through the nervous system. Thus, the heart’s powerful positive or negative messages, harmonizing or disruptive messages are carried instantly to the brain, where they enhance or interfere with our ability to remain cool and concentrated.
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