🔹 Forty years ago, a fascinating experiment was conducted by a psychology group at Stanford University on a group of children. Each child was given a candy and told that if they refrained from eating it until the instructor returned to the room, they would receive another candy. Subsequently, they were left alone in the room, and their behavior was observed. Some children quickly succumbed to temptation and consumed the candy, while others patiently waited for the second one. Now, after forty years, these children have grown up, each having found their own destiny. It is noteworthy that over the years, those children who were able to resist eating the second candy have achieved much greater success compared to the other group.
🔹 The underlying principle of this game is that humans, in order to achieve significant successes, must occasionally overlook small pleasures. One must forego the enjoyment of travel and recreation with friends to be accepted into a good university program. Alternatively, individuals must temporarily set aside comfort and ease and strive until the day when their business wheel turns even without their presence, and so on. The best opportunity to acquire this skill is during childhood. Parents, to cultivate Continence in their children, should expose them to such choices repeatedly. They should start with easy choices and gradually increase the level of difficulty.
🔹 For example, in the initial stage, ask the child to wait a few minutes before eating their chocolate until the second chocolate arrives. In the subsequent stages, when the child asks for a certain toy from their parent, the parent should promise to buy it if the child refrains from using their tablet for the entire week, and so on. This way, the child will learn how to overlook today’s pleasures for tomorrow’s success. It is crucial to remember never to break a promise made to a child, as breaking promises teaches the child that patience will lead to loss of benefits. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) stated, “You will not attain what you desire from your Lord unless you resist against the desires of the self.”
