It seems that we parents are in a ‘race!’ Look at these things we are doing to our kids –

• Admit them to a nursery school at the age of 3 years so that they get ready for interview in bigger school
• Send them for tutions so that they get revision of what they already learnt in school
• Stress them by asking alphabets, numbers, spellings, tables etc so that they are not left behind in class
• Send them for multiple other activities like – various sports, phonics, dance classes, language classes, etc
• Give them unnecessary information, which they need not know as of now
• Fill them with negativity about the world we are living in

I totally understand that as parents, we want to ensure they are not left behind. The effort is to get them ready for the world and their future.

Let’s rewind a few decades – when we were children, didn’t we make the most of it? Aren’t our fondest memories from our childhood? Those play times after school, sipping those pepsi-cola’s, going to villages during vacations, the amazing train journey’s, just chit-chatting with friends without the rush of going back home, playing with cousins until your eyes stay open, multiple outdoor activites, and so on! The list is endless, isn’t it?

Back to the present – One school of thought is – as a parent, I want to give my child everything that I missed. Fair point, I would say! At the same time, shouldn’t we, also be thinking – everything that I enjoyed during my childhood, my child should enjoy too?

As parents, we should feel alarmed at how we are parenting our children. In getting them ready for the future, we are actually ruining their childhood. We are actually ‘pre-maturing’ them. They are becoming adults sooner than they should. Childhood happens only once in a lifetime. We should not rob them of one of the best phases of life.

I am sure you will agree to this – the current generation of children are beyond our imagination. They are super confident, adaptive, leaders, have their own mind, are fearless, and ready to explore. They are unlike us when we were children.

Our job as parent is not to stuff them with activities, and add unnecessary stress. I think we should allow them to just be. Allow them to grow naturally. Each child is special in his or her own way. Eventually they will figure out their ways and paths. Our job is to keep nudging them in the right directions, and guide them when they are stuck.

I appeal to each person reading this blog to help children! They don’t need you to add more battles to their daily routine. Everyday they are seeing, hearing and experiencing new things. That in itself might be too overwhelming for them.

Let’s allow children to be children. Let’s not PRE-MATURE them!

#parenting #mistakesinparenting #children #mature #race