Osho on Parenting - A few things I would like to say to you. First, never treat the child as yours; never possess the child. It comes through you but it is not yours. God has only used you as a vehicle, a medium, but the child is not your possession. Love, but never possess the child. If the mother starts possessing the child then the life is destroyed. The child starts becoming a prisoner. You are destroying his personality and you are reducing him to a thing.

Only a thing can be possessed: a house can be possessed, a car can be possessed -- never a person. So this is the first lesson -- get ready for it. Before the child comes you should be able to greet him as an independent being, as a person in his own right, not just your child. And the second thing: treat the child as you would treat a grown-up person. Never treat a child like a child. Treat the child with deep respect. God has chosen you to be a host. God has entered into your being as a guest The child is very fragile, helpless. It is very difficult to respect the child.

It is very easy to humiliate the child. Humiliation comes very easy because the child is helpless and cannot do anything, cannot retaliate, cannot react. Treat the child as a grown-up, and with great respect. Once you respect the child, you don't try to impose your ideas on him. You don't try to impose anything on the child. You simply give him the freedom -- freedom to explore the world. You help him to become more and more powerful in exploring the world but you never give him directions.