‘We are simply not giving enough time to the youngsters today.’
Statements along these lines are commonly heard spoken by the disgruntled elders of today. They seem to be constantly complaining about the hectic life styles of parents who find it challenging to balance work-life and fail to provide quality time to their children. Where once children were imbibed with moral stories from the Aesop and the Ramayana- Mahabharata ensuring that the right ethics and Indian culture was being absorbed by their next generation, now we hardly find children reading any books – story or otherwise. Well that does not mean that they are ignorant or not intelligent. On the contrary the ease access to Internet surfing has made them all the more aware and knowledgeable as compared to their parents. The Indian youth of today is intelligent, smart, confident and a go getter.
Working parents compensate the time which they should ideally devote to their children by providing them with the latest of gadgets. Pocket money concept is now reaching a slot ranging from Rs. 5000 to 10,000 per month. Birthday parties and clubs and overnight outings is fast becoming a trend with the youngsters. Freedom has now got a completely different meaning all together. Parents who cannot afford to buy the latest mobile phones demanded by their kids are being scorned and ridiculed. This pressurizes them to work more harder and spend more time at work resulting in increasing the gap between their children. The bond between a child and his parents is lost in this rat race. Youngsters are now spending more time conversing with virtual friends on the net sharing their personal lives more openly than any average person would shrink from even imagining it. Friends requests are being accepted randomly with the urge to have more friends in their list than any of their other friends without even checking if the request is authentic and worth accepting. This is fast becoming an addiction and we see them hooked on to their mobile chats at all possible odd hours even while they are walking! Now that would certainly prove to be fatal if you chat walking down a crowded road full of mad traffic. Mothers make futile attempts in persuading their children to get off the laptops and get back to their homework. This again is a one sided conversation as their children have forgotten to have a real conversation and only believe in typing it out on the chat messenger. Sharing their problems with a perpetual stranger is more comfortable to them then talking it out with their parents.
So where is all this leading to? Is India accepting the wrong trend under the name of growth and progress …?
The increased and demanding standard of living forces both mother and father to take up jobs. To ensure that their children are provided with the best of everything be it education or life style. But in the end they need to do a quick check – are their children really growing up as they want them to? Are they being provided with what they need or being dumped with excess of everything which they cannot handle. Are the children seeking emotional support and making a Role model of people that they see around them. They need to be guided and harnessed to tap in their bountiful of energy. Their intellect and acumen requires a focus and an objective to build the new age India of tomorrow.
