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Monday, February 15, 2010

NO KIDDING


There are certain things that are powerful enough to thwart me in a second. In a moment I feel like leaving that place at once. One such thing is encounter with precocious children. Well, I have always loved kids and I love them when they share their little sweet secrets like how they managed to open the packet of chips noiselessly, how they managed to sharpen a pencil without a break in its point, how they managed to remove the blade of the sharpener or how they shared their tiffin with that stray puppy etc but I do hate it like everyone else does when kids show an irritating maturity and start teaching the elders or start speaking on topics they are otherwise not supposed to think about, let alone discuss. I do get irritated when they crack adult jokes but that’s just a momentarily reaction of mine, somewhere deep in my heart I get worried and tensed about where our kids are going? Needless to repeat, kids are the mirrors of society, so in short what is our society teaching the kids?

Parents take pride when their children are seen exhibiting such a behavior. Mothers delight when their little girls win local dance competitions by dancing ‘ditto’ as Bipasha of Omkara or Kareena of ‘bebo main bebo’. Parents encourage their kids to take part in all the reality shows originally designed for adults. Recently I saw a humor show on a leading TV channel where kids were seen cracking frivolous jokes with adult overtones. These kids might not know the exact tenor of the act but parents certainly do. I agree that our education system is faulty and cumbersome, it’s a very Herculean task for any child to carve out a successful career but that does not mean turning to reality shows for an easy way out to world of money and fame, even if a short-lived one.


Do notice that most of the time little girls are dressed up in the miniature version of clothes that we see in films. Glittery and short dresses, often with fashionable cuts and high heeled stilettos are the most common. Ask any child to sing a song; high chances he/she will start off with some funky bollywood number that can befuddle or stun you. Often you’ll regret for that request of yours.

I happened to read an interview of a leading child actor. He was anything but a kid. This little boy has a girlfriend, goes to clubs and loves his personal ‘space’. I was simply dazed. Even after accounting for the advancement in technological awareness in the modern society, this seems a bit too much to accept. When I and most of us were of this age, we did not even know half of the things going around. Studies, games, DD and food made up our world. It was much later we came to know about relationships and all that. Take any ad review, like those coming in Brand Equity or Mint. Most of the ad people tag certain ads as video garbage because the kids can be seen what the adults are supposed to say or do.

Sometime back I remember meeting some family friends. We were all chatting and the kids were playing, when the little girl (she was of 4-5 yrs then) spotted her kid brother playing with a dupatta and started laughing out loud, screaming from one corner of the room “oye, tu apna sex change operation karale aur ‘poora’ ladki banja” (u get a sex change operation done and u’ll be a full woman, emphasis on poora or ‘full blown’) and after that for the whole day all the kids were seen repeating this joke in all the possible forms. Surprisingly this did not embarrass their parents, who were giggling all day at the audacity of their children.

Unlimited unchecked access to TV and internet, and lack of the necessary amount of parental time is definitely making kids grow up fast.


Yes, innocence is lost.

21 comments:

  1. Very pertinent point A.S. It is a serious question on how parents are bringing up the children today. Watching reality shows which make no sense ( like splitsvilla, rahul ki baarat) and some super dumb soap operas have become family viewing time today. Parents themselves are so into being "hip" that they do away with teaching basic morals to their progeny. In the wake of being in the lime light they allow ( rather encourage) these kids do stuff that should never be allowed at their age.

    I wonder why would any parent allow a child to play those overtly sexist jokes on the comedy shows. Is this really what we want to teach the little ones today? I dont say we need to be old fashioned and dogmatic, but there should be a sense of what to teach/allow and what not to.

    Whatever happened to the beautiful word called "innocence".

    As they say, as you sow.. so you reap...

    all these kids stealing stuff, the scandals in schools are i guess a result of this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice one AS...Whatever you have said is true. Innocence is lost now. I come across kids who use loads of cuss words...mom, sisterwale words too...i feel very embarrassed and surprisingly their parents dont mind either. It's all thanks to media...sleazy content, abuses...kids seem to be doing all that...they themselves donno wht they talk. Parents should do something about it.

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  3. You have strung the right cord AS.
    I totally agree with you. This concept of reality shows involving children has lost all its glory. they don't present kids as kids but in fact they fill up their small heads upto the brim and as a result, it spills over into a failure. Instead of encouraging we should try our best to keep the innocence in them intact.

    Recently a 10-12 year kid who was once a participant died because of excessive stress. Imagine what is stress! and that too for a 12 year old is gigantic.

    Before innocence becomes totally lost, we should do something about them!

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  4. Haaahh, blame telepathy ASjee, I was just abt to write on this topic. I was appalled by an ad on TV or pepsodent where the mom hides her face when a TV reporter asks her if her child had failed a test. I felt that their tone was criminalising failure and building up unwanted pressure. I think faulure is ubiquitous and a strong character building exercise. Why then and hwree from do these stupid ads creep up? and a 10 yr old kid and failing exams? I would instead want my kid to fail exams so that he/she can learn to deal with it.

    I agree totally with your take on these wiz kids. This cud lead to lost childhood and a scar on their minds. God save them!

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  5. If some one says this is an effect of the west, they are totally mistaken. Children in India are exposed to much more cos of the slack censor boards and careless/ignorant parenting.

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  6. Ek time tha, jab maine apni classmate ko girlfriend bola tha...I went for the normal definition of a girl who is a friend. Teacher se bahut maar padi thi tab actual meaning pata chala tha. And i was in 7th std. I am sure 7 yr old kids can tell me d meaning now :(

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very nicely said.
    It is very true that "innocence is lost"
    TV is particularly harmful for children. They spend most of their time in viewing television programmes that they grow mature before their age, acquire lots of knowledge but never grow in wisdom and lose much of their valuable fun playing games and all that enjoyment peculiar to childhood.
    They start thinking like adults.

    Its quite shocking their parents do not teach them right instead praise their kids for acquiring such knowledge.

    Anyways, I liked your post.

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  8. Kids behaving like adults is not at all an appreciable behaviour. Kids doing innocent things is admirable.
    Nice post. :) I enjoyed reading it. :)
    Happy blogging! :)

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  9. Very true....you know my 5year old cousin operates my mobile better than me. And dumb me, she even has better plans for marriage.

    Your style of building the story is too good. Why don't you publish a book? :0

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  10. hii Rammy

    ya I agree, reality shows are major culprits as they leave an incorrect impression rather harmful one on the naive minds. instead of motivating kids to take part in such idiotic comedy shows parents should rather discourage their kids from even watching such things. ya as you sow.. so you reap...this thing is clear

    ReplyDelete
  11. hii Gayathri

    thanks!

    ya, its very common for kids to use such slangs in everyday language but what shocks me the most is that parents just don't bother.....every thing a child does cannot be passed off as fun and playfulness

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  12. hii Abhinav!

    thanks!
    ya I agree, innocence is lost, kids behave like adults,reality shows involving kids like nonsensical dance and comedy shows must be banned.

    ReplyDelete
  13. hii ST

    i did not get ur point.please elaborate :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. hii UAjee

    heheh! okii...thanks for the wonderful comment, i have seen that ad and I fully back ur views on it. it makes the viewer perceive failure as a sin.literally!

    ReplyDelete
  15. hii Sid!!

    heheheh! I read a joke somewhere which goes like :

    mother (to her pre-teen daughter): its time we should discuss about sex and relationships.

    daughter: ya ask, what do u wanna know!

    lol!

    ReplyDelete
  16. hii Moonlight!

    thanks a lot for liking the post! m glad :)
    ya, I agree with u word to word..parents must do smethng abt it...its the high time.

    ReplyDelete
  17. hii Chandrika

    welcome to my blog :)

    ya, precocious kids irritate everyone

    keep coming!

    ReplyDelete
  18. hii Sunil!

    hahahah! take some valuable tips from her ;D

    heheh thanks! but main book nikaal ke mass torture nahi karna chahti!

    lol!

    ReplyDelete