Nine to five switched to dawn till post midnight. With typing paces getting as competitive as the global job market and resumes turning into a rat-race for credentials...somewhere parenting too has seemed to evolve overtime, in ways we probably hadn't even planned. Freedom of speech may be a bigger slogan, being opinionated may be more welcomed, but it seems as if our coming generations of keyboard warriors are literally turning out to be worth describing as "a man of his word", literally just word.
Humanities courses and majors may have found a place and recognition in educational institutions, but humanity itself seems to be draining from the society. With umpteen responsibilities on their shoulders, it appears as if generation x and generation y are setting new parenting precedents for generation z and the others too come. While on one hand these generations can be regarded as highly progressive with respect to those of before, some old values seem to be dying out. Probably "ancient" and worth working upon, these ideals have had a base in our world for centuries. Ideally they all require upgrades, should be adapted to fit into the greater context of the new times, while some should be discarded. But none of that is possible without a thorough analysis, unfortunately we don't seem to have time for that anymore. While this new lot of parents seems to be more engrossed in building, guiding and navigating through their children's' academic and professional careers, it is as if they have left morals to be just explained by books and those books to just rest in libraries. Our kids haven't lost the passion to read, they still have time, but whatever little is left after they schools, academies, tutoring sessions, internships, camps and more is sufficient to scroll through vague data on the internet. Page after page, chapter after chapter, running fingers on text in books all seems to be an "ordeal" of the past The data they daily mine through is still pretty impactful, just not as well thought out and thought-provoking as it should be to keep our values at least a bit grounded.
Speaking of values, nope these aren't the long standing traditions and customs that I myself highly oppose. They're the most basic etiquettes that should be guidelines for our demeanor. These are the same ideas that form the basis of "all lives matter", "equal rights", "justice for all" and more. This society comprises of people just like you and me, these atrocities that we oppose and issues we speak up against aren't foreign bodies, they rise from within our own communities. They're recognized and discussed majorly in only one dimension, while the fact is these troubles too are multifaceted. Your child who out of "innocence" mocked about another kid in class for how he looked, a matter you let go off because "he's just a kid"...will be the same child who will judge a person for where they fall on the shade-card in future. There is no point in ranting about discrimination at work when you are raising your child to be a part of the same working community and still letting them feed onto the same ideals that don't even recognize the matter as a problem. Your son you just told to not cry like a girl and be a strong boy, will grow up to the abusive husband who counts domestic violence as only a way to tame his woman. Your kid that just pushed off another one to get a ball while you stayed mum, will feed onto the thought that one should get what they want, by hook or by crook.
This isn't a time to debate over who is responsible, the schools, the teachers, the parents, the mentors...it's time to realize being spoon-fed and being allowed to grow up independently aren't two exactly opposite things. It's time to realize that our children don't need to be tamed or completely set free, you don't need to keep a hawkish eye on them or absolutely not bother about what they do. You need to strike a balance between the extremes. Your history lessons, your religious education, your social studies course-pack and your geographical data, is all useless if the youth isn't going to learn lessons, imply any of the knowledge and stay in their own cocoons. Yes your kid is just a kid and too young to understand, but even a baby learns to speak without even understanding the meaning of the word "language" and why it's required. Your kids store the data you input with both your words and your silence, unfortunately many come with brains that aren't rewritable like CDs either. Time is the best teacher and they will learn with time. Kids who learn to fight their own battles turn out to be the strongest individuals with constructive and adaptive thought processes. But every child isn't the same and you don't know which category your kid will belong to as an adult. But your kid is a white paper, liable to soak up dirt when left in murky waters. So instead of arguing about whether you should write yourself on the paper or not, at least bother about where it's placed. At least understand that like it is wrong for you to fill up this paper on your own, letting it get filled by someone else's ways is too. Don't turn your child into a robot, but don't allow them to be manipulated by others. Teach your child the right and wrong, by not telling them what to do but rather what would be the effects of whatever they choose to do.
Memes are usually humorous in nature but by definition and in reality they transfer behavioral and cultural elements across individuals. Seemingly harmless they can cause anyone to crack up a bit and even take a social evil very lightly for a brief moment. Humor doesn't hurt when kept in limits, but your kid can't identify the border he crosses turning his jokes into mocking attempts. Just once before you think it is okay to let kids do what they will because life should all be about experiences, place yourself in the future and think about your kid doing the same things as an adult, an adult stranger. Would you still not stop them? Also before I end this, think about the time you took an issue between your kid and another as just a kids' affair. Did you actually even listen what the problem was? Your kid may have bullied another one and for you it wouldn't have been anything, but that kid could be facing such things multiple times and this could be affecting that kid's personality. Care about more than just your kid, care about the entire generation and those to come. If it takes spending some extra time with these kids, do it. If it takes adding another course to their curriculum in primary school, do it. If it takes conducting workshops with parents, families and faculty, do it. Take my money, take my time, just do whatever it takes to prevent that hound from being formed that you will oppose on social media ten years from now. Just do it. And don't say, you don't care. But maybe you really don't... then for the social evils you oppose when adults are involved, don't show that you do, because you contribute to the formation of arrogant and ignorant individuals like the one you attempt to oppose.
