In today's fast changing dynamics, parenting has become the most
talked of subject and yet the least implementable one. I say this
because, as parents we have lofty ideals, somehow are not able to put
our thoughts to practice. All the parents that I talk to are against
junk food, but we pack our kids' boxes with them. We all almost shun the
heavily aerated soft drinks, but yield almost inevitably to the
pressure from our kids.
In fact, I have a good mind to popularise the terminology, 'childrental pressure'.
Yes. While a generation faced the parental pressure, now there is a generation that is yielding to childrental pressure. How do we get over this? Is this pressure surmountable? Maybe, on hind sight, the writing was clearly on the wall. When a generation yields to parental pressure, they will yield to any pressure.
Therefore the solution lies more in a logical analysis of every situation and treating every problem as individual issues. Eating habits, entertainment, education are all three different aspects of a child's life and we must stop yielding to one aspect to win the other.
There was a time in evolution when punishment worked. Then came the era of reward and punishment. Now we are at the cross roads of yet another system, which is in the pipeline, to which we must gear up. That of group analysis.
If as parents, we analyse every situation logically before taking decisions and share our thoughts with our children, we will encourage the same behaviour in them. There is an added advantage to this system. Our children will help us deal with our emotional upheavals that very often accompanies tough decisions. And strangely, I find that when I voice out my concerns to my children, they often offer simple solutions and help in the effective implementation of the solution.
To all fellow parents, who bravely co-exist in the complex parenting space, take heart. Stop yielding to pressure and you will stop pressurising. Engage in group analysis with your children, without losing your head over the problem. If we sincerely voice our concerns we can hope that our children will also help us in parenting them better.
In fact, I have a good mind to popularise the terminology, 'childrental pressure'.
Yes. While a generation faced the parental pressure, now there is a generation that is yielding to childrental pressure. How do we get over this? Is this pressure surmountable? Maybe, on hind sight, the writing was clearly on the wall. When a generation yields to parental pressure, they will yield to any pressure.
Therefore the solution lies more in a logical analysis of every situation and treating every problem as individual issues. Eating habits, entertainment, education are all three different aspects of a child's life and we must stop yielding to one aspect to win the other.
There was a time in evolution when punishment worked. Then came the era of reward and punishment. Now we are at the cross roads of yet another system, which is in the pipeline, to which we must gear up. That of group analysis.
If as parents, we analyse every situation logically before taking decisions and share our thoughts with our children, we will encourage the same behaviour in them. There is an added advantage to this system. Our children will help us deal with our emotional upheavals that very often accompanies tough decisions. And strangely, I find that when I voice out my concerns to my children, they often offer simple solutions and help in the effective implementation of the solution.
To all fellow parents, who bravely co-exist in the complex parenting space, take heart. Stop yielding to pressure and you will stop pressurising. Engage in group analysis with your children, without losing your head over the problem. If we sincerely voice our concerns we can hope that our children will also help us in parenting them better.
No comments:
Post a Comment