Welcome back to Buddhist solutions for life's problems, where we discuss how to use

SGI and Natur in Buddhism to navigate the realities of daily life.

I'm Geehi Jolly reporting from Chicago where I sat down with Buddhist parents

Lonnie and Lisa Young to learn about their family story because today we're talking about parenting.

The parent child relationship is a truly universal one because no matter what their

presence may have been in our lives we are all the children of somebody and we all know

that our relationship with our parents impacts us forever.

But what about the experience of being the parent?

If you think about it, having a child isn't just about the birth of a new human being.

It's about the birth of at least two new human beings, a child and a parent.

For the parent, it's a wild experience.

You live your whole life as an independent person and you get to know

yourself pretty well. And then when you have a baby all of a sudden another new person is

born, you as a parent. Then come all the questions.

First regarding raising your child, how do you know if you're being a good parent?

Is there a way to ensure your kids grow up to be happy, successful, and

contributive members of society?

What if your child has experiences that are really difficult to handle. And then regarding

being a parent, how do you not compare yourself to other parents? How do you trust

your decisions? And considering the enormous amount of research on early childhood

development that has come out in the last few decades, how do you navigate all the

advice and fend off the fear-mongering media narratives on how badly parents can damage their kids

...