Childhood - Those were the days!

Where has childhood disappeared?

Childhood that was so alive, so vibrant and so full of noise.

Childhood that always had a full stock of questions ready for parents.

Childhood that refused to sit still and always did what was not supposed to be done.

Childhood that relished the sweetness of mangoes and the tanginess of tamarind.

Childhood that resonated with the sounds of laughter, giggles and fun.

Childhood that bore the mark of innocence, curiosity and wonder.

Where has that wonderful childhood disappeared?

All around me I see parents over-eager to see their kids hailed as geniuses. Ever seen two and half year olds in playschools here? It is a heart-breaking sight. At an age when they must be running around, talking non-stop and basking in the love of their parents and grandparents, these kids are forced to sit still, remain silent and if possible just sleep until someone arrives to pick them. I know play schools here where the tiny tots are given cough syrup or other medicines with sedative effect so the kids remain drowsy or sleepy. What a great way to spend childhood right?

Of course, there are excuses. No one’s at home to care for the child. He/she has to be prepared for kindergarten. Let him/her start young. He is unmanageable at home. Excuses are plentiful.

Obviously there will be no-one to care for kids if grandparents live alone or in an old-age home. And you are not preparing him for war. C’mon it’s just kindergarten. If he is unmanageable, that is exactly what he is supposed to be right now. How many of us were perfect angels at this age?

And that was just playschool. Wait until the child makes it to school.

So its school time from morning to evening, followed by tuitions until late evening and then online interactive learning till the poor little one dozes off. I know a nine year old boy whose parents started training him for GK quizzes from the time he uttered his first words. Ask him anything under the sun, his parents say So I asked him the names of Malayalam months. No answer. I asked him how ‘Haripad’ (his town) got the name? Again no answer. Let our kids grasp the ordinary, then reach out for the extraordinary.

This is one reason why I sent my kids to an anganawadi instead of a playschool. I wanted my kids to have a sound base in Malayalam and grasp and the little things they needed to know in Malayalam – days of the week, months, Malayalam star signs, directions, folk songs, stories, famous personalities and so on. Let them enjoy the beauty of their mother tongue first. They have lots of time for English. Lots of time to mug up all the GK under the Sun. But too little time to live their childhood.

My kids joined school only when they were almost five. Five years of blissful, joyful, carefree childhood. It was the least I could do.

Okay let’s forget education and move on to nutrition.

Your kids grow up on McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC. What’s wrong, you may ask. Just pay, get it, let them have it. How many kids know the joy of relishing a mango that they have just fell? It’s ‘kittanu’ (germs), parents say. How many kids get to enjoy fresh, hot, home-cooked meals three times a day? How many kids know the way piping hot unniyappams melt in the mouth? How many kids have grabbed a handful of hot, banana snacks and run away to share it with friends? Sharing? Now what’s that?

Yes, competition is tough. But childhood isn’t something you can compromise and then catch on later in life. It has to be lived when it is destined. 

Let go the children. They deserve to enjoy their childhood. Just make sure you have an eye on them at all times. Then let them soak in the sunshine, roll in the sand, splash in the sea, chase those butterflies, climb those trees and shriek in delight when that puppy licks their toes. Yes, they’ll get sunburnt, they will come in all wet and dirty, they’ll have occasional falls and cuts and they’ll miss schooldays.

But in the end, the memories of those wonderful childhood days is all that we will all have as our own. Give your kids the chance to savour childhood and let them tell their children and grandchildren – “Those were the days!”