Children coming to the Shichida Child Academy who have been raised by mothers who teach them that, ' Being the top student is great' or that ' You have to beat all the others' will from the beginning always be conscious of having to be number one. However at the school we do not just shut that out as something bad but instead acknowledge that the child was indeed the number one. As we progress with the child, he or she will discover the real pleasure that is beyond the principle of competition and quite naturally become less conscious of being the number one in class.
What becomes more important to the child then is whether what he or she is doing has been fun or not. As the individual begins to essentially enjoy things in this way the children start to accept each other. Conversations between them begin to develop where they accept that some are good at doing certain things, and others at good at others.
Let's say for example that a child has forgotten his eraser. In that situation there would be no feeling of, "I am such a good kid because I lent him my eraser" but rather there would be a kid mumbling something like, "Oh, forgotten your eraser?" followed by an eraser being tossed to the needy one. We see this daily where the child who has borrowed an eraser says, "Thanks" and then he tosses the eraser back. There is no sentiment of having borrowed or lent anything in the situation.
This I believe to be a very significant factor. In the past the value system has been based on an attitude of give and take. In other words if you are kind to others then they will in turn be kind to you. However in our future society even this way of 'give and take' thinking will end. In its place I believe that we will be able to share a common value system in the midst of our social groups at all times.
Here is another example. There was a child in my class who had for a long time been under the impression of having been a victim of bullying. During one lesson we were speed reading a blank book that was given the theme of something that you are worried about. We often have interesting themes centered on rare insects of the world or about personal stories but it so happened that one of the students' mothers was sick so we decided on this subject theme. Young I.M. decided on a title, 'My bullying' and then started flipping through the blank pages of the book.
Because there are so many children doing this lesson together it is hard to check the results one by one. At the beginning I was thus not aware of I.M.'s misfortune. I suddenly realized that he seemed to be drooping his head and was totally silent. I thought this was strange and asked him what was wrong. He replied, 'I'm going to apologize to my friend tomorrow.' But since it was very strange for him to be apologizing for having been the victim of a bully I asked him, 'Why apologize?' His reply was, 'I thought that I hated (him) for being bullied but I had said something really nasty to him before it all started.'
In a word young I.M. had gone and deeply hurt his friend and was now wondering why he had said such things to bully him. He then realized that he was to blame in the matter. This led him to understanding he would have to apologize the next day and say, 'It was my fault.' Because falling outs are emotional problems even though we may understand them logically, it is very hard for us to become really humble in dealing with them. However in doing QSR we are not just simply looking at images or understanding things but dealing with right brain perceptions. Deep emotions and feelings of consideration for others tend to ooze out of these (perceptions). These profound sentiments are then able to be humbly accepted. It goes without saying that the bullying problem of this particular child ended on that day. We normally focused on the results of which book's images were seen, or what colors emerged as we continued in our lessons. But after having done this for many years it became more obvious that that the children's facial expressions were becoming brighter and brighter. I can only conclude that there must be some stimulation of the most intrinsic levels of these children's consciousness that is happening.
 
As we have seen thus far, the changing times have weakened inter-family bonds greatly and the discipline required to properly raise children is now insufficient for the job. At the same time it may be too much to argue that such is the case only because of the times in which we live. By this I mean that even in the past when such proper discipline existed, it was by no means the case that father would come straight home from work and have dinner with the children. Just as in this modern age there were many instances of coming come late and leaving for work very early in the morning. It is therefore not vital that parents always be present in order to properly discipline the children. As an example, even if the parent is not actually there at the dinner table, the father's position could be decided and just with his rice bowl and chopsticks left in place there would be a sense of his presence there. Or in a household where the father returns home after the children have gone to sleep, if his pajamas are in the laundry basket the next morning when the children see them, his presence will again be felt. Considering these ideas we might then say that this is raising children through sight. In other words the parents do not necessarily have to be there at the children's side at all times and that they can be disciplined a great deal visually. When they come home in the evening with, 'I'm back!' and see their mother standing there in the kitchen from behind the children feel something through the five senses. Maybe it's curried rice for dinner today or that great smell's rice and chest nuts, are some of the things that they can feel. Things like these form part of raising children and so it is not only through words that we discipline them. It is necessary for us to raise them as human beings at the most fundamental level from within the entire field of daily life.
If the environment is right and the children are relieved of all stress they become able to enjoy anything and everything. That would include of course their attending lessons for right brain training. At the beginning it might be fun to be the number one in the class when you are part of a competitive system but sooner or later you will get tired out by this. At that point you will let go of it or else just hold on to the image and form of what was. If we really want our children to lead full lives I think we need to realize that, 'If it's fun for children they will do it.' One more crucial thing in connection with that is a good university or a good job posting alone should not become the sole focus of attention. We are no longer in an age where 'name value' has any meaning. What is more important than forcing name value status on children is that they be raised with a rich sensitivity and to help them discover their direction in order to find the profession they themselves wish to pursue. In doing so the children's minds will be activated, they will be able to find the job they most want to do, and even if they fail they will be able to climb back out of it. If they are always moving along on the tracks laid down by mother in their lives, whatever happens they will be asking their mother what to do. What kind of school should I go to next, or what should I do now or where should I get a job and so on. With that kind of a situation it is impossible to stand up and walk on your own two feet. Moreover when an experience of failure comes along it will be a case of not taking responsibility and saying instead, "It's because you told me to do it mother." The final aim of people is to become independent. Raising children we should never lose sight of this independence, on both the part of the parent and the child. Let's consider how best to accomplish that from here on.
There are four hints for our daily lives that I wish to allude to. They are first of all, "It is truly wonderful that you have been born as a human being." In fact from the point of view of our brain structure there is a mere 0.05% difference between the abilities of a genius and those of a normal person. That means therefore there is an amazing ability within each one of us. There is thus no need for us to try to be like other people. Doing things your own way is fine. From that point your unique personality emerges. Even if you consider the structure of our minds all of the answers lie within ourselves. By using this suggestion and believing in your own sensibility you will be able to move forward in life. In the current social setup there are a lot of people who do not have confidence in themselves at all. It seems that there are many people who have ability and yet because they have no confidence are incapable of standing on their own two feet. Without this independence we are unable to take responsibility and end up quibbling. It is because I see so many young people like this that I want to help them grow up. "The answer lies within yourself" is what we are stressing here. For example if you were to ask yourself whether or not you liked yourself the answer would be "No!" in many cases. There are not many people who can say, "I really like myself a lot." The feeling of really liking oneself is surely based on a sense of existence. That sense of existence comes from raising that little child who is within you. For that to happen try going back to yourself as a fetus and asking yourself to remember what your mission is and what is the meaning in your being born.
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