By: Barnali Bose, Editor-ICN Group
Let the realisation that no matter how old one may grow, keeping the child within alive,is the only way to survive in this world.
KOLKATA: Our lives revolve around our children. It is for children that we are able to play the role of a parent or a teacher. As Shakespeare says,life is a stage and all of us merely players . How verily said,isn’t it? I am a daughter,a sister, a wife, a mother, a teacher, all amalgamated into one.
Childhood is said to be the best years of one’s life . But in the world of today ,childhood has perhaps become the most arduous years of one’s life.
The life of a child is now caught in the complex maze of school and coaching classes. We, parents provide the child with tuitions for every subject as a result of which he finds no time for activities that he actually enjoys doing.
Ceaselessly,our children strive to materialise the aims that quite often are not their own. We ,parents sometimes try to manifest our unfulfilled aspirations through our children.The children of today have sadly lost the joys of childhood.
We talk of seven wonders of the world, There are seven million wonders in the eyes of the child. As Dr Abdul kalam says ,Let us help to ignite these young minds with an insatiable urge to discover the world and their place therein.Let us not replace imagination with ambition. Flights of imagination will automatically take them to great heights.
The child,today has ceased to be a child .He is a miniature adult. Our expectations and peer pressure very often culminate into behavioural disorders and they resort to escape mechanisms . Unknowingly,they fall into fearful traps,the latest being the Blue whale Challenge that has unfortunately led to many untimely deaths.
I remember, as a child,once back from school we would play Hide and Seek, kabaddi ,Badminton and other enthralling games that would help us study in the evening with refreshed minds. Tuitions were conspicuous by their absence. The elders in the family guided us in our studies.
Nowadays,owing to excessive pressure, our children either retract into a shell or become aggressive in behaviour. Lack of proper communication with parents aggravates their problems . What follows is countless visits to the counsellers or worse still, attempts to end one’s life.
Let us pledge to return what is rightfully theirs,the carefree childhood that today’s competitive world has deprived them of. Let us allow them to relish the joys of growing up instead of burdening them with unrealistic goals .
Like William Wordsworth says,let the child ‘be sportive as the fawn ,that wild with glee across the lawn ‘ Let us help them fill up their baskets of childhood memories with experiences that give them immense joy. When those memories flash in their mind’s eye, years later ,may they bring smiles not frowns on their faces.
‘The child is the father of man’, it is said. How aptly stated, for childhood experiences do help in shaping the personality one develops into, as an adult. Let the realisation that no matter how old one may grow, keeping the child within alive,is the only way to survive in this world.
