Tuesday, September 6, 2011

2011 and kids...

I have been reading reviews on  Amy Chua's  book on  parenting in a strict  Chinese way ,which she herself has employed on her daughters.  Adapting it   might  be a cruelty  on  tiny tots, but may  produce better results.

Here's my take...

 The world around us is so busy, even a 2 year old have a strict routine to follow starting off at his waking time until  he is made to sleep. From hobby classes to the tuition,   we have forced so much on them , that they  seem to have forgotten the  Hide and seek, Postmaster.. Postmaster   and much more, which we fail to even realize. In metro cities like  Mumbai it is a far sight to see kids playing and  jostling  at  each other,   (okay.. child kidnappers may be around)  rather  they stay  in the four walls to restore their energy after school activity classes .

Now the question is, how they are regaining their energy, and the simple answer, which is practiced   by most of us  is  by letting them some time to catch up their cartoon series  while we take a quick  nap . Neither  the cartoon watching is  a problem, nor the hobby classes, but  surely the timing is. Poor kid.. he has no idea about the word hobby, and we  the ambitious parents enroll him in one after the another .

 The  special bond between a child and a parent seems to fade because everyone is so busy. I  happened to visit  a friend of mine at her place. we were sitting in  drawing room  chatting and her three year old feeble  daughter  in another corner  with her eyes glued on the television screen. I tried to talk  but was left  defeated , not been able to turn  her focused eyes.  In our old  Doordarshan  days  everything was so balanced, we had enough time, time to watch, play, study and getting  cozy with stories of our grandparents.

 These days we are missing out the basic ingredient of childhood, the innocence in them, the free flow of their spirits, rather we make a deliberate effort to  mature them and confining  their minds. Let them go their way and have some space for  you  and for them too. Teach morals and values, time management to them and see how they will make you proud.