Are we setting a right example?

Recently I attended the annual day at my son’s school, he has just been promoted to class 1 from prep and the school is one of the most prestigious schools of India. We missed it last year, so we have every reason to be ecstatic and enthusiastic about it and it became more emotional because our son was also performing a part in the performances on stage.

As we all know, these days every presentation, meeting, public gathering starts with one standard line, that, “kindly switch off your mobile phones or put them on silent/vibration mode”. So, this was not an exception, with teachers requesting for the same. Additionally, “rightly” sensing the enthusiasm of parents about performance of their wards, the anchor for the event and Head Mistress of school requested parents to not click photographs or shoot any videos during the performance, for the two genuine reasons, one not obstructing the view of fellow parents and two not to distract the little kids performing on stage. They shouted at the peak of their volume, that, everyone will receive a copy of the photograph and DVD of the entire event, so please (read it thrice) don’t use cameras.

Any guess on behaviour of parents about this announcement, forget keeping the mobile on silent/vibrate mode (the lady behind us, received one and made two calls on her SMARTPHONE, discussing the issues she was having with her mother, apologies for overhearing them rather forced to hear those, none of those issues sounded so urgent to be discussed in the middle of this event).

Anyway, as soon as the performances started, a good number of parents brought out their fancy gazettes ranging from smartphones, handycams, compact cameras and to top it all, their tablets and iPads, blocking the view of many rows behind them. This all was happening despite reminders from teachers. So where are we heading, what does it demonstrate? I know we love breaking rules, declining requests made to ensure everyone’s comfort at public events and more importantly flashing our prized possessions mostly the latest technological advancements called mobile phone/tablet. In this case, my concern is not that I could not had a uninterrupted view of the lovely performances by those tenders kids or I missed the view of my son performing those little steps or I don’t appreciate people having those latest gizmos, my concern is that we should not crib in future if the our kids are not following are instructions or not listening to us. We should not discuss the lawlessness of society, which is rampant even today. Imagine the situation, when these kids would grow up watching the parents flouting every rule, disrespecting any request made to honour comfort of others in public places. We expect our young kids to follow the instructions of their teachers but we (most of us) ourselves are not willing to do the same, though we are supposed to be grown ups, more matured and wise types.

Another problem which I am witnessing these days is a sense of disrespect from kids towards the people belonging to lower strata of our society, they are part of our daily lives in the form of servants/maids, security guards, waiters, attendants at the malls etc etc. But somehow, the younger generations are reluctant to accept them as a normal human being or they have some kind of superiority complex for reasons which are beyond understanding of my grey cells. This again comes from my own experience and from people around me.

Talking about behavioural problems and life style disease of our kids is the most common topic among our peers, be it our colleagues, neighbours or relatives. But, it’s high time we scrutinize our deeds before piling on all the blame to TV or immature kids or the most favourite culprit, Westernization. We as a society, are not doing enough to ensure that our kids grow up in a safe, pollution free and disciplined society, though we are supposed to do so and be the role models for our kids, at least if not all. As a parent of two kids and as a responsible citizen of a “free” country, I strongly feel that we should not make any further delay in accepting our responsibilities, before blaming system or others. Before asking for your right, just think what you are giving as a moral duty. If you can’t act rationally to everyone’s benefit, then don’t make yourself entitled for the privileged treatment from others. We as an individual can bring significant changes in society with our small actions; we don’t need big jargons or any messiah to teach us many things. We were brought to this world by our parents, the present is a mix of primarily what our parents have build and to an extent what we are doing. So the future for our kids would be outcome of our actions mainly. 

Forget everything; just think about the environment or society we are preparing for our kids.