Parental woe

Recently I heard parents standing in long queue in the biting cold to get admission for their children. I used to see them waiting both in the cold / hot and humid mornings to see off their wards to the school and wait late in the night to receive them. Some even carry food to the kids which is eaten a little or totally discarded.

Many are the sacrifices a parent undertakes – you may call it responsibilities. But then what happens after all the sacrifices and discharging of the responsibilities. Reach the adolescent age, the character of the children undergoes a sea change. They become rebellious and oppose anything and everything. Parents become their archenemies. At times they with their friends show respect in front of the parents; but behind they pooh-pooh them.

I have witnessed such plights of many a parent. The kids behave so decently in front of others. It is only with their own parents they have aversion.

It is termed as generation gap. I do not think it was there in the past – or not so severe. Many youngsters of these years look down upon their parents. To them the poor parents are all nincompoops. Only their friends and themselves are fit to fill the bill. In their attempts to ward off the parents they simply forget they too will have to be a parent once, have to pass through all the phases. And it is better for them to keep themselves in others shoes (a healthy practice!) and try to view things in a different perspective. As for parents earlier the better they come to a compromise with the truth – that they all have come alone to this world and they have to go alone. Do not get attached – practice detached attachment!