Of Children's Day.....oh to be a child....

Of Children's Day....Oh to be a child....

At the wrong side of fifty, with a fresh teenager for a son at home it's easy to drift into childhood.
Many times my son envies me and says I am lucky I don't have to study and once home I can just sleep, rest or do anything at home while he has to study. At times I try explaining to him that it is certainly not fun to be an adult with responsibilities and that these naps are the outcomes of burn outs due to work-home balance. At times, i even chide him saying, I have earned this by working hard and reaching a position and that the cat naps at home are few and far in between on occassional weekends.
To be honest for most urban people the week actually never ends. After a hectic 9 to 5 job with a great deal of travel, overtime at work, late nights or carrying work at home to "work from home" , to weekends which may be burnt out doing washing, cleaning and cooking at home or chilling outside , each week drifts into another.
This holds true for our children too. The hours at school are long, the activities after school an add-on and the different types of classes in the evening or the weekend so time consuming that the children are left with barely any time to experience true childhood, more so when children get hooked to games on mobiles, tablets and computers. Gone are the days when children would have time to be themselves, fly a kite, play hide and seek, catching cook and the like.
Firstly there is a dearth of open spaces in cities like Mumbai and other metros and secondly many children get hooked on to video games and televisions and become couch potatoes. Outings are also around malls and movie theatres.
As children, our evenings were full of friends playing boisterosly till our mothers warned us to come home for food. We would still linger a few more moments giggling and laughing till one more final warning. Walking, running, cycling were a part of our usual routine. We did have to challenge ourselves to a Marathon for that monotonous run. We could be running in ales and valleys, on roads and in gardens without fear and without branded wear.
Our child like innocence was limited to occassional sweets and limited outings in contrast with frequent pizzas, burgers and ice creams. We could pluck mangoes, berries and jaamuns from the trees and eat them without the fear of feeding ourselves on chemicals.
Yes, our childhood was different. We never questioned our parents, rarely argued with our teachers or sought endless explainations from them. Our friendships pure and simple and not laced with dates, boy friends and girl frineds right from primary school.
Honestly, do our children really experience any childhood? Our parents just let us be, do what we want. In contrast modern day parents have passed on their burden to perform on to their children so much so that they have almost become gizmos or artefacts churning out skills for the world to appreciate.
Gone are the long hours of sleep, the moments we just whiled away chatting, singing, doing nothing. Children are so hooked on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp that in their anxiety to post their status and latest updates they lose the simple and pure joys of life.
The mad rush for brands which has also been induced by parents and the desire to own them has made them oh so materialistic.
No doubts they are smarter know much more due to their exposure but aren't they losing out on the pure and simple joys of childhood.
Today is children's day, I wonder how many children expereienced unfettered freedom to just be , soak and enjoy in the fact of being a chiild.
When my child envies my lazing, is it because he too has become a cog in the wheel executing tasks in a routine.
As parents we need to introspect. Those of us who are in their forties fifties and sixties have seen phenomenal changes in technology from radio to television. From black and white television to colour TVs, from doordarshan and chaaya geet to hundreds of channels, from 2 or 3 sets of clothes on birthdays and festivals to cupboards overflowing with brands, from pagers, to mobiles, to email and inernet. From our regular baniyaas to malls and Amazon, Flipcart, Big basket and Myntra.
It's been a long jump , nevrtheless it is us who can ensure that the child like innocence we have experienced is sown and harvested into the lives of our children or else our generation would be guilty of depriving them of those joys.
As we celebrate children's day let us remember our childhood, become child like, experience those joys and make our children do so too. They too deserve all that innocence we pine for on this day. Let it not become an event management programme devoid of the true spirit and innocence of being a child. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all strive to make the spirit of Children's day prevail????