Child is not a showpiece to be displayed
Are we linking our children too much with our status in society? Are many of us inadvertently connecting our children's performance to our prestige in other people's eyes?
Sudha Gupta, Founder & Chairperson - Mother's Pride
Updated On: 3/3/2007  [Total Votes: 853, Hits: 3236] Print

Seeing the atmosphere today, may be it is time we asked ourselves a few questions. Are we linking our children too much with our status in society? Are many of us inadvertently connecting our children's performance to our prestige in other people's eyes?

• So many of us drive both our children and ourselves wild with anxiety about admission in a "good" school. How do we judge a good school? Is it a school whose atmosphere, syllabus or teaching standards we like or is it a school which is considered a "status symbol"?

• A lot of us want our children to play sports. But again, is it enough for us that our child is enjoying himself playing a game that he likes? Or are we silently or nor so silently pushing him to win so that we can demonstrate what a champion our child is?

• All parents are proud of their children's performance. But is it necessary that we pressurize our children to demonstrate their prowess before guests by forcing them to dance or recite a poem, whether or not the child feels comfortable doing so?

• It is natural for parents to want their children to be good mannered and well-behaved. But why do we become over conscious of their behaviour, expect them to put aside their childishness and become perfect models of discipline when we are amongst people!

• We have the same unreasonable expectations when we prevent children from romping about in sand, water or rain from the fear that their clothes and shoes will become messy and then what will people say. There are parents who do not even let children choose their own comfortable clothes, but instead dress them up to be "next, clean & smart" all the time as though they were on show.

• The question we need to ask ourselves - is our child a showpiece to be displayed before others as a statement of our success?

Let children be children. Let them grow the way nature intended. The concern should be the holistic and natural develop-ment of the child and how they measure up in other people's eyes. By treating them as showpieces we only put undesirable pressure on their delicate psyche.

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