Talk to any parent of the current gen and they will tell you that Kids these days are beyond Comprehension. Super fast, too much , too intelligent are some of the adjectives to this proverbially developing population called our next generation.
At a point like this i was tempted to compare my childhood with that of my kid's. They have schools that don't stress on academics alone and want the child to have overall development. They have parents who want them to go to schools like those. My parents put me in a school because it was close to my house and was good enough like all other schools. Not once do i think my Mom or Dad asked the school what was "Their Philosophy". I'm sure they wanted the best for us but i guess the definition of Best just morphosed into something else over the years.
They are surrounded by luxury. A ton of gadgets that we got familiarized with during our 20 somethings are there for them to use or throw when they are not even 4 something. Desktops, laptops, palmtops, mobile phones and so much more. Did someone just coin a term "Born with Multiple Golden Spoons".
But like all other things in life there is a flip side to this. The kids of today have all the luxuries but are wanting on Time from their parents. I as a mom feel guilty several times of not being able to spend enough time with my 3 ish old son, who is a bundle of abundant energy. But, i manage to take time off and spend time with him, to feel connected to him and to have a meaningful conversation with him.
I have made a personal choice to leave my home dusty, my food uncooked - ordered from outside just so that i can spend that time with my son trying to figure out if the gun he is drawing needs to have a bigger nozzle or not. During all my interactions i realize that there is much more information that they internalize. So if its playing with the X-box or practicing Phonetics at the age of 3 my son does have his share of fun and fight. Then there are friends with names like Akarsh, Mayukha, Mrinmayee, Kaivalya, Akashith - a challenge in itself. My friends names were much Simpler.
Their childhood is more challenging than our childhood. But all in all they are all set to take it with the same Gusto that we took up ours. So maybe that's how the equation gets balanced. Along with luxury comes more responsibility and a more complex world.
As parents we can help them Hope for the best while they have the strength to prepare for the worst. We must try and give them the wisdom to differentiate between a want and a need and instill those necessary human values that will form the pillars for their charachter.
7 comments:
Yes I really agree with you there's a lot of gen gap rgd kids.In our childhood days our parents could able to manage 3 to 4kids but now its getting hard to manage even one.Kids are sharp,naughty,cranky,energetic now when compared to those times.
welcome back Uma with ur blog!!! and this post is so true!!! it happens with every generation i guess..blogrolling u!!
Hi Uma,
I totally agree with you. Kids of this age are really sharp, intelligent and naughty than what we were at their age. And I think thats one more reason we find it more difficult to manage time between work and home. Its so difficult to leave them and go to work :)
I am still reeling with the names you just ranted in your blog...thank god it was much simpler back then.
where r u uma its been a while kada!!
meeku nen cool blog award pass chesa..na blog check cheyandi!
very true....we are making their lives more complex by introdcing them to the hi-tech world sooner than they are ready for it....or may be its the ever-existing looking through the generation-gap-glasses thoughts setting in with u and many of us....great we have grown up to wear the ggg already hee hee i thgt we were still teeny weenies...whatever....parents / family members and at the social level teachers wud play a crucial role in keeping them well-grounded. its all going to depend on socialization and the agents of socialization. guess the sociologist just woke up!!!!:-)
How true! It is so challenging to come to terms that the world of today and the world of the future are so different from the one in which we grew up, and no matter how hard we try to pass on our wisdom about life decisions, we will never be able to place ourselves in their context, and it is likely our "wisdom" will be incomplete if not flawed. The only thing that we can do is to make our own lives examples of living by values that are beyond the impact of changing times. I see a lot of parents being able to do that successfully as their kids grow into young adults, who, though totally connected with "the times," still have imbibed timeless values.
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