I'm struck by the import of two recent articles that had come up for discussions in the public domain. The first was about the increasing number of children and adolescents indulging in crimes, triggered by wayward behaviour like abuse of drugs and failed education. The second was about parents banking on private detective agencies to pry on their children as the disconnect in the family is growing alarmingly.
Studies by sociologists have revealed that the trend of children taking up bad habits and keeping bad company stems from the irresponsible behaviour of their parents! While catering to every whim and fancy of the child, the parents try to make space for their irresponsible lives with the result that they cease to be effective arbitrators when a mess up occurs. And paradoxically, the guilt gets to be so overbearing that the parents take the easier way out by running away from the problem without grappling with it as they do not want to be seen as being 'mulish and not in touch with reality' by their wards. They do not want to be unpopular, either!
The rot that has set in the society runs deep. No amount of education can stand in for a lack of leadership and motivation in the fundamental/basic unit of a society which is the family. Collective prayers and breaking bread together at homes - to name just a couple - were insisted upon by families till the not-so-recent-past which have been given the go by, by the nuclear families who've embraced the escapist 'laissez- faire' syndrome to cover up individual inadequacies/weaknesses! The patriarch who guided his family adopting a no-nonsense approach has now become the butt of puerile humour and a 'comic' character in many a contemporary movie.
But what's unfortunately being glossed over, is that most of the patriarchs provided leadership through exemplary behaviour! And the absence of such a towering presence is essentially the problem!!
This deficiency in leadership, at the grassroots, just seems to be increasing!
Studies by sociologists have revealed that the trend of children taking up bad habits and keeping bad company stems from the irresponsible behaviour of their parents! While catering to every whim and fancy of the child, the parents try to make space for their irresponsible lives with the result that they cease to be effective arbitrators when a mess up occurs. And paradoxically, the guilt gets to be so overbearing that the parents take the easier way out by running away from the problem without grappling with it as they do not want to be seen as being 'mulish and not in touch with reality' by their wards. They do not want to be unpopular, either!
The rot that has set in the society runs deep. No amount of education can stand in for a lack of leadership and motivation in the fundamental/basic unit of a society which is the family. Collective prayers and breaking bread together at homes - to name just a couple - were insisted upon by families till the not-so-recent-past which have been given the go by, by the nuclear families who've embraced the escapist 'laissez- faire' syndrome to cover up individual inadequacies/weaknesses! The patriarch who guided his family adopting a no-nonsense approach has now become the butt of puerile humour and a 'comic' character in many a contemporary movie.
But what's unfortunately being glossed over, is that most of the patriarchs provided leadership through exemplary behaviour! And the absence of such a towering presence is essentially the problem!!
This deficiency in leadership, at the grassroots, just seems to be increasing!
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