Disclaimer

Please take a look at the bottom of this page for the author's disclaimer and note of caution.

Tuesday 25 May, 2010

Perils of Modern-day Parenting

Perils of Modern-day Parenting

Came across this wonderful article on one aspect of the perils of over-indulging behaviour by our modern-day parents. Read on:

Some additional potential perils include:

  • Parents shower all kinds of material benefits to their kids (& to their parents) and simultaneously spare little or no personal time with either children or their own parents. Result - Kids learn this behaviour and don't spend time with the very same parents when they need their personal time and attention the most - in their twilight years
  • Parents inculcate "independent thinking behaviour", but expect kids to follow "conservative norms" when they grow up. Hardly feasible!
  • Parents pamper children of both genders equally. But expect
    • their daughters-in-law to be "traditional, subservient door-mats" at least to their sons, if not to them as well - Can't see how this is feasible.
    • their sons should get all the benefits of an old "MCP" world, without the corresponding duties & responsibilities that the men of yesteryears' MCP world used to shoulder!
    • their daughters should continue to be treated like the "princess" that she was
    • their sons-in-law should treat their daughters like a true "equal", and share in all the house-hold responsibilities equally, as things ought to prevail in a post-modern world
  • Parents practice zero-thrift in the eyes of the kids, but expect the kids to be thrifty
  • Parents shun physical exercises, diets, etc. like the very plague, and their refrigerators stock up all the fattening goodies that one can visualise, but never fail to sermon to their own kids on the importance of being trim
  • Parents want each and every kid to:
    • Come first in class
    • Be good in every sport that one can fathom
    • Be a musician par excellence
    • Be courteous and spend tons of time with all family relatives
    • Be a leader in class, school, college, et al
    • Be active in social service activities of every kind
      • If the kids are expected to be such "jack of all and master of all", they will certainly expect their own parents to be a combo of Abhishek Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Gandhi, Nandan Nilakeni, Aishwarya Rai, MS Subbalakshmi, Indra Nooyi and Mother Terasa, all rolled into one!

As a famous politician of yester years (Annadurai of Tamil Nadu) pointed out, all of us need to remember that when we point a finger at the other chap, more fingers are pointing towards us - automatically.

Beware!

N


No comments:

Post a Comment