The Art of Parenting

We have been witnessing a lot of change in the world we live in, the pace of which has increased quite a lot in the recent years. We have read in our history books about the great revolutions of Russia, France & more importantly our own struggle for freedom. All of them being single best transformation for the whole country. After independence India saw Green Revolution as well as White Revolution which significantly impacted our growth. Next was the much rated LPG abbreviated for Liberalization Privatization & Globalization. All these were a story of yester years. For my generation the biggest transformation was the evolution of cellphones followed by internet & social networking, witnessing their growth till date from a very nascent stage. The biggest taker of all these in Indian context is the middle class resulting in classifying the section into two broad categories the upper middle class & the lower middle class. The upper middle class are the one who availed themselves all the advantages of the technological advancement the country has made & thus form a large percentage of Indian population. The younger generation lives a lavish lifestyle than their parent generation in terms of food habits, dressing, social order etc. This has given way to a new cultural evolution which might not be as perceptible as the no. of cars on Indian roads. But seriously one biggest change due to this new cultural evolution is the change in the upbringing of a child in an upper middle class family in India.

                                                     Working long hours for both partners has become a norm in India. In such a case they are left with very little quality time for their children. Like any deficiency of proteins & vitamins leads to some disease, future India seems heading to a blight. A very popular ad on television where a child manually changes the time on a clock very much sums up the gravity of the situation. The art of parenting is loosing its sheen. Although economically they must be ensuring them good schooling & comfort but morally a child isn't developing. In earlier days for most children their role models happen to be their parents. Parents crafted their children's lives. Each & every manner reflecting the impression of their parents in their lives. Much has changed now. Today parents try to offset the lack of quality time spent with their children by buying them whatever they yearn for therby loosing control of their lives. Children have the ability to pick up things quickly not knowing what is right & what is wrong. Yesterday when i was halting at a traffic red light, I saw a couple with their 2 children racing past me. Now what a lesson are they trying to teach their children! The are numerous things that a child learns from his/her parents. Unknowingly or knowingly any time we compromise on moral values we are teaching our future generation a bad lesson. Unfortunately many of us are so busy with our work that we knowingly ignore the good practices of life. Don't you think this spells a danger for our country which has so many issues to deal with? How can things change if we become so irresponsible to our children forget anybody else. A small act of kindness has become such a rare commodity that it receives thousands of likes on Fb. The younger generation probably exsists on social networking sites only.

                                                    The basic art of Parenting includes giving time to children, telling them what is right & what is wrong, talking to them, understanding them & therby take better decisions for them, imbibing in them the moral values of discipline, honesty, humbleness, respecting people, showing gratitude, helping others, standing against injustice etc etc. A dialogue between parents & children is the most important bond that keeps them together. Unfortunately the bond is weakening day by day. The whole effort seems to be on building the bank balance for a better future of their children. What use is that future when the present seems to be in a lurch. The today's parents can very well take a leaf out of their parents' life to master the 'Art of Parenting'.

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