Parenting definitely helps us transform as a person. Keeping it real and simple is my key for this funny business, but the contemporary parents have different ideas too. Let’s take a look at how and what works better while we’re discussing parenting! As the baby (now child) starts growing, parents also start getting various ideas regarding the bringing up. Modern parents are cloaked with so many ideas at this time.

Today people depend on technology so badly that sometimes it seems that one day they would learn to live without oxygen but not the mechanics! They pass this insanity unknowingly to the child without giving it a thought about the consequences.

Smart or stuck?

Giving an electronic device though in form of a toy is far dangerous than to let it sit on a branch of a tree (there are fair chances of not falling from it but with technology, I am not sure!). I have seen many parents now days who give their baby their cell phones to play. And what I feel deplorable about it is they feel proud of their baby being so efficient to use that in such a small age!! Really?? I can’t understand that if the parents are so well aware of technologies, how can they be so ignorant about hazards of the same? I don’t mean here to scare anyone but talking science only.

Giving a child your smart phone is not at all a smart idea. Your smartphone emits radiation (450–2100 MHz) that is almost a microwave radiation. (So, you can let your kid to play in your Microwave oven now onward!). Studies say that this radiation may harm the developing nervous system of the child due to smaller head, thinner skull and higher tissue conductivity.

Now, I want to ask the parents that isn’t it something that most of you have heard or read or already know about? (Your smartphone would be smiling to find you this dumb! — Just a possibility as you would say about the damage due to radiation!) Here, the smartphone is merely an example but I think letting your child play only with “Smart” or Educational toys is not a great idea.

A worthy option.

If you intend your child to be smart and well educated then no need to pile it with the gadgets. Smartness is something inherited and Education is something the kid will get being exposed to different people in various environments. There are things in the world it will learn through experiences only. Have you ever seen any parents teaching their kid how to abuse? It is survival instinct and exposure to the conditions that will teach your kid things suitable for the environment it is living in.

Making it a gizmo kid will on the other hand make it difficult for the child. A child is unable to handle frenzied and chaotic nature of today’s technology and the effect would be seen on its physical, psychological and behavioural health. I understand that in today’s ‘get the lead out’ work culture, it is challenging to find new ways for keeping the kid engaged and entertained at the same time but this is what we are talking about- called Parenting! (It’s all ‘Growing pumpkins on a Mango tree’, isn’t it?).

Parents can work up on this by diverting the kid to books. We have been told since we were kids that the books are our best friends and trust me if you haven’t tried yet, they undoubtedly are! Today’s parents are luckier as compared to ours as they have unlimited sources available when it is about books.

Can gadgets replace this joy?

And one very important point to draw attention at is to try the regional literature. The folklore(s) or folktales are the best to start with. Mother tongue has been something so sectional to find today that people gaze you like an alien if your kid speaks a whole passage in your mother tongue without mixing any foreign language. (Not being judgmental, but today it is really a scenario with us!). Help your kid to believe that it is a pride to learn things those are deep rooted in your culture or can say are in your blood. Those are real!

Old hands-a precious gift for your kid!

If the books are also not your cup of tea, let your kid be privileged to have their grandparents with them. It can be the best gift to any kid from any parents in this era of over anticipation. A kid will require to learn human qualities which one can earn by living an age long. The ‘grand ones’ have earned those virtues and skills and they through their experiences can shorten the learning period for your kids if you give them a chance keeping your so called new techniques, intelligence and beliefs aside. The virtues like fidelity, tolerance, patience, wisdom, faith, mercy- a long order it is- can be taught to your kid either by giving it the time to get exposed to the conditions where it will get those in practice( impossible to get each and every on your list) or just by letting it to be in old hands. You, yourself can estimate which one is the real solution?

This is real!

Parents themselves first need to accept that life is not a fantasy neither it’s a fiction. What actually works here is some innovation and lots of experience. Parents who already have one kid and if are having another this time would understand it better. Talking to a real person is considerably different than to a machine or a pet. Percentage of working parent and isolated child/children is increasing in our society due to families being nuclear. Having career or being progressive is equally important but to maintain a balance is more necessary than to achieve personal growth.

It is not that I am advocating any particular mentality but I have observed and more or less experienced that one can’t stay happy for long in absence of his/her people. You will need someone to share and celebrate your achievements or success. Equally, bringing up a kid is not less than an attainment. If you get a support in form of family in it, the result will be good way off your expectations. And again these are not fictitious assumptions but something real that is tried and tested for hundreds of years so, giving it a try would not be detrimental as there are real people involved in this not the machines!