Parenting no cakewalk
Monica Kahlon
Working as a counsellor at a school has made me realise that there are several problems in our modern society.
I want to share my experience due to a few cases that recently came up to me. A Class X student was angry and misbehaved with his teacher. When I asked him about it, he said he was upset with his mother as she kept busy on WhatsApp. Another Class VII student handed over his diary to me in which he had stated that though his mother was a housewife, he felt lonely at home. When I asked a Class V student about her aggression, she said her mother comes back home by 7.30 pm from work. Her siblings go out in the evening to play outside, but she stays back and watches television. A couple was once annoyed over the fact their teen-aged daughter does not answer any of their questions. Parents were trying to be friends with the child, but she didn’t accept their gestures. Maybe, parents were being too pushy on the girl.
In the rat race of earning money, it is apparent that parents have no check over what their kids are watching on the television or Internet. As they struggle with several adolescent issues, they are unaware of the fact that parenting has changed and how — it’s not a cakewalk.
We keep blaming the generation of kids for being unempathetic, but problem is something else. Our country has seen a transformation among women folk — from being homemakers to professionals. Sometimes children bear the brunt when both parents are not available for them. Increasing aspirations and dreams often lead family members to put their responsibilities on each other; meanwhile, children are left unattended and get distracted. We need to develop right ways of parenting because children, if left directionless, will be the wasted youth of tomorrow.
