When I look at my 3 year old daughter, I see a heart warming innocence that emanates from her eyes and her lovely smile. I see in her the proverbial empty pages that are waiting for the quivering hands of experience to write down a story. Then some day her face will be like a voluminous book that boasts of a life-long log of trials and wisdom.
Every parent tries to protect his children from the harsh realities of life but over the passage of time this exposure is inevitable. That is part of growing up, you can't just have all the good things in life. You have to taste bitterness, experience loss, suffer defeat and be challenged by fear. Some psychologists say that children who are over-protected and shown only the bright side of things tend to have unrealistic expectations and get bored of everything very quickly. That is something far worse than a child who has faced the ups and downs of life...because with proper guidance from parents such a child becomes fully equipped to handle similar situations in grown up life.
The new era has produced a new generation that is fine tuned to all the latest trends and is very assertive and independent as compared to previous generations. I have noticed a very high degree of will-power and confidence in my daughter, which usually develops in later years. She is very sure of herself and does not back down in the face of authority. Maybe it is because now parents share a very close and equal bond with their children and try to make their every little dream come true. Unwittingly, parents themselves are creating problems for their kids, since they are not being trained to cope with unfulfilled demands and unnecessary wishes. Life has much to offer but you can never have it all!
I try to keep check on my own upbringing methods but then again I also fall prey to these usual pitfalls because I want my child to have the best in everything...It is not wrong to have such aspirations for your kids but we have to strike a balance and set limits. Do you ever feel the same as I do?
