It’s amazing if one could afford the liberty of indulging in childish fantasies and wonderment. But it’s rather absurd that these dreams are short-lived making children live out the reality which has become the order of the day. Just before our children begin to totter and blabber they have to multitask other motor and cognitive skills that enhance their ability to communicate. As they grasp these strategies much before they can comprehend it, these skills that were acquired in their formative years prove futile while communicating their wants and needs as they outgrow.
Adults reprimand them for being so assertive and vociferous in venting out their demands. As they are coerced into umpteen activities, due to stiff competition, is the child ever permitted to have the last word? Worse still when the child throws tantrums and parents are forced to take pity on them. It’s like the pact between the devil and the deep sea. Once children learn these tactics, they are capable of holding sway over any situation.
I sometimes wonder what happens to all the skills which are honed by the child during their formative years. It only gets shelved on the pretext that academics takes precedence over their versatile activities. We drill into them mental skills in various subjects that lay the base for their foundation. If the child fails to meet the expected percentile, parents get frustrated over their unrealistic desires. We forget that children have dreams of their own. They were not born to fulfill our goals or further our plans. We still stereotype them and steam line their career choices.
It is said that man has the freedom to make any choice that he desires. Albeit we have numerous options at our disposal we struggle to settle for any one of the options and then successfully commit to it throughout its course. This is where frustrations seep in. We only train our children to acquire respective targets within a stipulated time frame. Do we ever encourage them to follow their dreams even if it sounds foolhardy? Thanks to the advent of contraptions and digitisation that we have so many youth icons that share their struggles and journey in their respective career choices in a bid to encourage struggling entrepreneurs.
It’s stifling enough when we teach our youngsters the difference between integrity and insolence and its repercussions if they fail to adhere. As we their caregivers in their rudimentary years provide for their needs from infancy to teenage-hood, it becomes apparent with our struggle to decipher their complex needs for emotional growth and stability. We have drilled into them that failure is doomed if they squander their talents and efforts. But how many opportunities do we offer them before we label them as a success or failure.
As our teenagers emerge into young adults, they become self-conscious of their actions. In a bid to quench their suppressed desires and needs, they seek comfort from pals that share their interests.
How wonderful it would be if we learned to embrace childlike characteristics of trust, innocence, laughter, spontaneity unlike the quality of childishness which makes us naïve, immature and untrustworthy. In order to truly celebrate life, at times we ought to let ourselves loose and indulge in playful acts like our children that pretend to be myriad characters that of doctors, teachers, mothers et al.
