"How I wish I was a kid again!"
This is what we think many a times as adults.We remember those carefree days when we spent our childhood playing with friends,watching the few channels on television,eating 'ghar ka khana',time out with school friends,the rare movie in the one screen theatres and having a burden - free life .
Is this the same with today's kids????Not by a long shot!
The children of today are a burdened lot.Conclusive research has found that there are thousands of school-going children committing suicide these days.What is it that is driving these little kids to take away their lives at this tender age?
The answer is, sadly, we adults.It is the adults in society and their perception of success that leads the little ones to frustration and lives cut short.The tender minds cannot bear the pressures they face in their life and they give up on themselves and put an end to their lives.
We,as adults think that our kids should be the very best at what they do.They should score the maximum marks,shoot the maximum goals,score the maximum points at each and every competition they participate in and be the BEST or better than the best.We label children by the marks they score.If he/she is not scoring good marks they are not worthy.We see their marks as their worth and also assume that the one who scores better is going to be more successful in life and the rest are not going to make anything of their life.
As adults,we are trying to increase the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q) of the children and not even thinking about their Emotional Quotient(E.Q)We teach them how to learn all the formulae,the tables,the answers to the questions in lessons,how to excel in sports,music,dance but we do not teach them how to accept failure,how to value and respect others,how to handle stressful situations and how to behave like responsible persons in society and be the messengers of change for the betterment of society.We instil in their minds that as long as you get great marks in the exams , you are good and if you don't do that , you are unworthy.What's more,the parents treat the marks their kids score as a prestige issue.They highlight their kids scores and successes to one and all and bask in their kids laurels.
We,as well-meaning adults, should realize that kids are ours to love and care.They are not to be treated as trophies that we need to display to the world.Each child is different and needs to grow at his/her speed ,as per his/her ability.Less marks does not mean less capable or less worthy.Let us stop assuming that only those who score more marks or only those who score enough to be engineers or doctors are worthy while the rest who opt for other streams are not .Just as much as we need engineers ,doctors and IAS officers,we need bank clerks,journalists,mechanics,writers,anchors,teachers,artists and the like.What is important is that a child should be happy with the field he/she chooses.
Even as school-going children the kid is under tremendous pressure to excel in studies and the extra-curricular activities.To ensure that he/she does that the parents enrol them for different coaching classes so the poor kid jumps from one class to another and has his day overloaded.Many times he/she has no time to play with his/her friends as he/she would love to.We should allow our children to enjoy their childhood as we did.I agree there is a lot of stress to perform and excel but it is we are putting this pressure on them and we can change it by learning to understand their individuality and capabilities.
As well-meaning adults,it is high time we worked on improving their EQ along with their I.Q.Teach them to respect themselves and those around them Teach them good values that will hold them in good stead in future.Teach them that is OK to lose at times and there are many more opportunities that will come their world.teach them how to handle stressful situations by being more organised.and disciplined.Teach them that you love them irrespective of the marks they score and the laurels they win or don't win.Most importantly,teach them that they are extremely important to you and try to make them good humans first before trying to make them good at scoring the highest marks.
What we need for the children today is more pleasure and lesser pressure. Let them do things they enjoy.Allow them to pursue a game or hobby of their choice.If they are scoring less,help them to do the best they can without comparing their results with another,let them better their own level.according to their capacities.
Most, importantly,let the children enjoy their childhood. They are not asking too much, are they????
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