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!”
Comments