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What fun if instead of gathering together to play video games, they gather together to take up projects like tree planting or ‘save the lakes’?
“It’s getting hotter by the day! My AC is on 24/7!” As summer intensified so did the Whatsapp messages. The messages were all about how it was so difficult to survive without AC in a place like Chennai.
“My children don’t move outside even in the evenings” one mother declared proudly. “They can’t bear to step out of their comfy AC room!”
‘Is that a thing to be proud of?’ I wondered. We are giving our children everything under the sun (pun intended). AC, comfortable indoor games and computers to see to it that they don’t need to venture out.
But what we are removing from them is something very very precious. The power of making choices!
Our children, provided with all comfort, are not even aware that they have a choice – a choice which makes them flexible and adaptable. Taking things for granted, they start demanding and expecting the same level of comfort wherever they go and are unable to function. If God forbid, they have to spend time in an environment where all they take for granted is not available, what happens then?
Let us teach our children to accept the sweltering heat and face it head-on. And maybe when it becomes intolerable, they will not start complaining as is their habit now but inquire into why we are undergoing such extreme weather conditions. That will be an ideal time to introduce global warming to them… Maybe then when they face the problem in its face, instead of cocooning themselves with blankets in AC rooms, they will realize the importance of increasing the earth’s green cover.
That is the time they will enjoy getting their hands dirty once again with the warm healing mud of the earth. What fun if instead of gathering together to play video games, they gather together to take up projects like tree planting or ‘save the lakes’? Who knows where that exploration will lead them? Maybe into the depths of their own selves.
Ultimately it will change them from compulsive human beings who demand things as their birthright to aware beings who use their power of choice wisely to create earth which is heaven.
Isn’t that the greatest gift we can give our children?
Image via Unsplash
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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