Thursday, August 21, 2008

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE KIDS?

I sat down before the television for yet another music show in a private channel,an opening intro  followed by the commercial break long enough to rewind my memories.I was trying to recall the   inception of these kind of shows!. Those were the days when these programs started attracting a wide variety of people ranging from kids to older audiences. What adds up spice to these kinds of shows is that the aspiring singers perform in front of their heroes, whom they sort of idol worship!
The commercial break did take a break and opening the musical show was a young kid of aged 8 to 9 yrs. That episode being the semi final round, made me sit agape. I was all eyes and ears. That guy indeed was awesome and many others followed him and every one of them were equally perfect, impeccable and exuberant. The show ended, the results were announced and to my shock, the nine year old kid was eliminated.
The organizers of the show were generous enough to telecast the conversations that went on among the participants of the show, their parents and relatives after the announcement of results!!. What haunted me the most was those pristine tears, the sense of extreme disappointment in that rosy face, the beauty of that smile conquered by sadness. And that background music was like a dirge, an Armageddon, as if the kid has lost the whole world. And all to increase the PR for this show!

What persistently nagged me was that "do a kid need an experience of this kind at a vulnerable age", which is meant be a wreath of joy, a period of worry-free life.

Media, in order to broaden their horizon of audiences, by all means, use these kinds of shows. The winners of these shows are made celebrities. They go out, sign autographs, make musical concerts along with big singers, get sponsors for their costume, perform music GALA amidst a throng of “FANS” and attend school functions as a chief guest and they are treated as everything except as kids. Does’t this inculcate a sense of arrogance at times in the young mind or are we training the toddlers to be modest. Above all, this kind of hype might create a barrier between these kids and other children. No matter how many uniforms we give them, the mindset of the gullible children would remain unchanged.is it like, When failures hurt so much, success backfires!

These tv shows are not the only means by which the children are burdened, these are the latest attractions in the row of different types of extra curicular activities and competitions to put the tiny tots under pressure, which actually should be an impetus to develop a sense of interest in doing some work,build up a healthy competition and inculcate a sociable atttitude among them.But,things are turning other way round. it develops a kind of hatred, greediness some times even inferiority complex and they develop such a mindset that they become to sensitive to bear with failures.

Sometimes, parents go insane with their expectations on their kids. I am not blaming or hurting the interest of parents, but, it has to be such that the children should have some good amount of time to be kids apart from all their swimming class, extra coaching class, Hindi class and what not.

Many parents despite knowing this fact,forgets everything altogether especially when they are too much into this world of competition than their wards, forcing their aspirations on them and at times for the joy of bragging about their children among their peers, they want their kids to be perfectionists.i don’t know, I may sound anachronistic for a few, because i still feel nostalgic about my primary-school days and have some sweetest of memories to rely on when I feel hectic unlike the children today who are born to work and compete(sometimes only these things)and will grow up with no time to contemplate the past. After all, even if they wish to, some may not have any such things if things go on in current pace. So, all parents want is to somehow put the children in the safe boat no matter where they land up, unconcerned of whether they ll like it or not.Parents who does things at best interests of their children forgets that sometimes over indulgence and over expectations spoils everything.

who is accountable for this?The competitive age in which we live ,the society which is stereotypic( I mean , the society supports people only those who does things that is well recognised and don't accept or respect( sometimes even discourage) people who choose the road not taken by others, even if they know that it might be better ),the Parents who are too proactive and too much interested in deciding theirs ward's life at a very early stage giving much care to the charm and fame of the present time,taking every action to mould them that way,which would ensure a safe future for their children.Anyways,Whatever or whoever it is, it is high time we draw a boundary for how much we can expect from the young children, how much we can influence them in the budding stage.
If not, then they will become just a machine engineered for vying and proving themselves the best to the society (Not even to themselves) without knowing the real beauty of life.

3 comments:

Sooraj said...

You've given out your piece of mind, ma'am. But, if you don't mind me telling, I think you are capable of doing it in a more structured manner. This article seems a bit unorganised. Please no to take offence. Why I said that was because, after reading this, I couldn't exactly think with any specific point as the base. All points are valid, but, are not kinda structured. Try putting in paragraphs or something.


Am sorry if I sound rude. pardon me.

Sooraj said...

And no, I didn't mean that you haven't used paragraphs. I meant that you could group similar arguements in paragraphs. In this, you seem to be jumping from one typr of arguement to another and that, unfortunately, kinda drains out the reader from commenting. No offence meant. Sorry.

priya said...

thanks sooraj for makin a good comment. i was expectin some one to speak on it and i din take any offence .i actually started off with a mood to criticise the way the kids are being treated nowadays but then made a huge criticism abt reality shows . i think it would have been better if i had made it two seperate entries . bcoz, reality shows has so much in it . i m more a reader than a writer to be frank. i m really happy that u pointed out the disomfort which even i felt when i read this one. i tried making some segregation to show my point but still it din come out well i suppose. will see to it and thank u so much