Things I Worry For My Child In The Years To Come

Posted: June 19, 2019

Travelling, generally brings to you some time for self-introspection. It lets you ponder over things that have been and that will be. I often resort to reading a book, listening to music or making mental notes about things when I am out and about. I am never the one who is driving because it’s a skill I haven’t acquired yet. I wonder when I acquire that skill will it be LinkedIn worthy?

So, on one such trip where I had done too much introspection for the day, I picked up the newspaper to browse through daily happenings because I was in no mood to whoop over the news ( read ‘fake’) that I receive on WhatsApp.

I happened to pause over something I read and now this is something that I tell my child every day. We all tell each other often but how much do really practice on an everyday basis. This news was about water and its scarcity by the year 2030.

I then began to wonder about all those things that will become scarce or will not be available in abundance by the time my little one will be just 17 years of age. I didn’t know who to ask for help to clarify my inhibitions. There was no one around to rub lotion of empathy over my apprehensions.

Then the small thought churned itself into thoughts over more things. I began to almost choke on fear of various things for my little one who will not be so little in a few years. Here is a list of things that I worry about my child’s future.

Water and other Natural Resources

We read, hear and are aware of the scarcity of water however with the cutting of trees on the pretext of trimming branches and various changes that mankind is bringing about to mother nature. I wonder and worry together at what all resources will be available for our children. On a recent trip where there was much greenery around, at the sight of a small lake, my little one kept asking me, if it was a water body and I kept explaining to him what a water body is. With the forever fluctuating temperature and weather, there was hardly a resource available for him to admire. Whatever lakes he saw, were being used by humans as a means of income and entertainment for tourists. I wonder if, in the future pictures of water and natural resources would be put up in museums for people to see and exclaim over their existence at one point of time.

Education System

This one is pretty interesting. The way it has been depicted over the years in the Hollywood and Bollywood cinema, it indeed is pretty amusing. My worry is not with the depiction but with its commercialisation. Now, there is nothing wrong in commercialising and developing a system, the wrong creeps in when it doesn’t benefit people as it should. With numerous classes, coaching centres, schools and colleges branching out in almost every lane of the city, the importance of real honest education are soon going to be a thing of the past. My worry is how something that is a right for the children of our country is being used as a means of business. How children getting the right knowledge and education is no longer a priority? The priority has now shifted to the what kind of school the child is going to and if the school is worthy of social status or not.

Technology and Free Play

Technology is a boon by all means. I will never deny that however with the technology that was developed to help us, has somehow made us succumb to its power. From electronic automatic devices to millions of games that get developed every now and then, the fun and excitement of free play are lost somewhere. I have so many of my mom blogger friends who emphasize on the importance of free play yet we all worry about our kids playing on a mud ground or playing out in the sun.

I remember how the Digi -time was restricted for us as kids and how being out and about is what we wanted. So I worry if my grandchild will ever know what it is like to dig mud with a broken stick or what it is like to climb trees. I wonder if my grandchild will ever know what it is like to collect stones and play with them. With my little one, we do collect sea shells at the beach and every now and then pick fallen flowers in the garden. The technology is moving and growing at almost the same speed as the bots did in the movie Big Hero 6 but will it leave any space or opportunity for free play?

Security and Rules

The biggest game in the history of mankind has been about diving people on the basis of caste, creed, colour and religion. The one who plays this game has time and again been successful in winning this game. I, however, worry for the security of my child who belongs to a minority sect. Will he have a say in deciding who should govern him, will he have the freedom to express his opinion as a citizen. Will he be safe in his own country? As parents we all want our children to learn a few things about our faith but we never want them to disrespect another religion or put down another human being. I fear if him being a good human, something I work on every day, will work against him?

I honestly don’t have answers to these questions. I don’t know if science and technology will be able to solve my worries about nature. I don’t know if the future government will bring about drastic and positive reforms. I, however, do know this, that I have to instil good values in him, I am teaching him to be a better human every day and trying to become one myself. I hoping that the goodness and the knowledge I am giving him will help him surpass all odds gradually in 2030!!

A version of this was first published here.

Image via Business Recorder