Friday, March 28, 2014

Has good parenting been thrown out of the window?

I've been watching a reality show on the Surya channel - not regularly, though - where tiny tots are the stars on stage. I must say that the hostess does her job pretty well as she manages to get the best out of the little children with the parents and the relatives - hogging their fifteen minutes of fame - in attendance, as the audience for the show!

And mind you, such shows are, indeed, getting to be popular because many channels churn out these reality shows! I've scratched my head to find out as to what could be the real purpose of the show and am yet to get a definitive answer. Let's try to hazard a guess, once again, as to what is being achieved through this type of entertainment(what's given in italics is the counterpoint):-

      (a) to nurture 'self confidence' in the young ones as it's  a very, very competitive world.
           Then, what about the majority of the children who don't have access into the world of 
           television? Aren't the schools doing this anyways?
      (b) is a platform to rub shoulders with power and glitz which can catapult the performers to better
           life, mediocrity be damned!
           A false notion and just by being around with known personalities cannot wipe off the 
           deficit of talent and the lack of wherewithal for sustained performance of an acceptable
           standard.
  
And may I ask as to how're the kids selected? I suppose by their singular ability to chatter.Many of the answers given by the little ones show the following:-

       (a) they've been tutored because they don't seem to know what they're uttering.
       (b) almost within the same breath, I must say that many others among them are sharp and observant
            about the things happening at their homes.
       (c) the parents give enormous freedom to their children where guidance and corrective action should
            have been provided.
       (d) a few of the conversational pieces that come out of the children's mouths are so 'heavy' and
            totally out of place!

My take.

Let the children enjoy their 'childhood'. Do not convert them into mechanised robots lest they lose their childhood innocence and charm. What's the tearing hurry to advance their maturity? Are you, the parents, trying to regain your lost opportunities by putting your children through a pace that would ultimately bring about his/her early downfall? Sad!


Tailpiece.

I'm reminded of an incident of my childhood though I don't remember as to when exactly it had taken place. My parents had been invited for a dinner and I was also taken along. On return, my mom seemed to be rather amused by the fact that the aunty - who'd invited - had put raddish in the 'sambar', a fact which she'd shared with my dad leading to a bit of mirth between the two of them.

When the uncle and aunt had come home visiting, a day later, somewhere in the course of their conversation I'd interjected to tell them about my mom's amused demeanour about the 'raddish in the sambar'. I was too dumb to register the tremendous embarrassment caused to the elders by my unwarranted, uncalled for inputs.

Later on, after the guests had left, I'd received the worst drubbing from my parents with the final statement, "You, as a child, have no business to listen in to your elders' conversations. You study, play and do the right things that you're meant to do and from now on, you shall not be visible when guests are visiting until you're specifically called for".

I learnt my lesson!  



















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