People love to talk about their opinions and pass judgments, without really understanding whether others are interested or not. For some reason, that I clearly fail to understand, these opinions and judgments come from the older, more experienced lot, who form the higher levels of a hierarchical pyramid, who seem to know it all.
One of the all time favourite dialogues of adults, seems to be, "don't think we haven't gone through that age. We understand better than you think". Well, if they really understand better, then why is there an ever widening communication gap? Why is it so difficult to have one direct and simple conversation, where they agree to a young person's point of view, without a million counter questions and eventually saying, "don't think you're smarter than us". Who said that in the first place? All we want is to be heard, in an unbiased manner. But somehow, it always boils down to the following few "issues" - grades, grades, grades. So much for respecting a person for who they are.
Sometimes, I feel, parents, or adults, don't have the capacity or patience to accept a young adult's point of view. Even if the discussion is about their children, adults seem to know best. Well, if they really know their children so well, then why don't they realise when they're hurting the sentiments and self respect of their own children? Why don't they realise that bullying one kid might work but beyond a certain age and limit, it breaks a child. In this case, its usually a her. Because the typical Indian way of doing things is a nice long humiliating lecture, followed by a few slaps. How it impacts the psychology of a child is barely of any importance. Parents are of the opinion that its a perfect way of keeping a child tame and on a leash. Society, on the other hand, has a nicer term for it, that is "being protective". So if your child never answers back, never goes out with friends, basically has no social life (add to that decent grades), you're 'A grade' parents.
Its funny but suddenly there has been a rising interest in child psychology, counselling etc. There are books on parenting, what exactly to say and what not to say to a child, etc. What appalls me is the hypocrisy of it. How much can a person be tutored? The problem is that in today's era, parents know that they should learn to be a friend to their children. Unfortunately they forget that friends are not always critical, judgmental and don't behave like know-it-alls. Friends don't put you down in public. Friends don't get embarrassed of your poor grades. Friends understand, cause they're mostly always sailing in the same boat.
To my parents - we're not always wrong.
One of the all time favourite dialogues of adults, seems to be, "don't think we haven't gone through that age. We understand better than you think". Well, if they really understand better, then why is there an ever widening communication gap? Why is it so difficult to have one direct and simple conversation, where they agree to a young person's point of view, without a million counter questions and eventually saying, "don't think you're smarter than us". Who said that in the first place? All we want is to be heard, in an unbiased manner. But somehow, it always boils down to the following few "issues" - grades, grades, grades. So much for respecting a person for who they are.
Sometimes, I feel, parents, or adults, don't have the capacity or patience to accept a young adult's point of view. Even if the discussion is about their children, adults seem to know best. Well, if they really know their children so well, then why don't they realise when they're hurting the sentiments and self respect of their own children? Why don't they realise that bullying one kid might work but beyond a certain age and limit, it breaks a child. In this case, its usually a her. Because the typical Indian way of doing things is a nice long humiliating lecture, followed by a few slaps. How it impacts the psychology of a child is barely of any importance. Parents are of the opinion that its a perfect way of keeping a child tame and on a leash. Society, on the other hand, has a nicer term for it, that is "being protective". So if your child never answers back, never goes out with friends, basically has no social life (add to that decent grades), you're 'A grade' parents.
Its funny but suddenly there has been a rising interest in child psychology, counselling etc. There are books on parenting, what exactly to say and what not to say to a child, etc. What appalls me is the hypocrisy of it. How much can a person be tutored? The problem is that in today's era, parents know that they should learn to be a friend to their children. Unfortunately they forget that friends are not always critical, judgmental and don't behave like know-it-alls. Friends don't put you down in public. Friends don't get embarrassed of your poor grades. Friends understand, cause they're mostly always sailing in the same boat.
To my parents - we're not always wrong.
