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Permalink Reply by Nishtha Khurana on April 13, 2009 at 2:53pm

I second Angella but I also believe that the same applies to home. We have homes where kids sit all day with ACs switched on, they do nothing except watching TVs, playing on computers and playstations. If our kids go to schools, markets or anywhere else, they travel in cars with their ACs switched on. Working parents holding guilt in their hearts for not being able to spend time with the kids, wash off their guilt by pampering their kids and fulfilling all their whims and fancies so much so that the kids don't even learn to take a "NO" for an answer. School kids these days have flashy laptops and mobiles. Teenagers spend lavishly on pubs, nightclubs and discos.

Gone are the days when kids were encouraged to go to the market and buy small things on their own (although some parents chose to watch them from a distance, like mine), walk to the tutions/friends' homes. The summer vacations used to be full of kids with their bicycles, badminton rackets, cricket bats scattered over every by-lane in the city. TV was restricted to 3-4 hours in a day (and surprisingly no child-locks in the TV were necessitated). Books used to be our best friends and authors like Enid Blyton, Ruskin Bond and Edward Stratemeyer (remember Nancy Drews) were household names, and unlike JK Rowling, they did not discuss teenage romance, first crushes and first kisses in their books.

I myself belong to a family where we were encouraged to take up these activities despite a lack of formal sports education in school. Even otherwise, my school (St. Thomas' School) believed that all human beings are equal no matter what work they do and they tried to inculcate the philosophy in the kids in a no. of ways. So even though there were fourth class staff aplenty in school, the kids had to dust and sweep their classrooms themselves turn-by-turn.

I think with AC schools mushrooming everywhere and parents having a "luxury turning to comforts turning to necessity" approach in their lives we are loosing touch with our base/roots where we have grown up as individuals fit enough to face the fierce competitive world ahead.

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Permalink Reply by niharika on April 13, 2009 at 4:12pm

i am really impressed by your thought process Nish but don't you think we have to change with changing
times as you must be aware our father,forefathers used to study in open school or schools that were in
tents don't we all find ac cars/hotel/auditoriums more comfortable .
don't you think we have to change with changing time ?

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Permalink Reply by Nishtha Khurana on April 14, 2009 at 10:45am

I agree Niharika that we have to change with changing times but it is also essential that we retain the positive points from the era gone by. Comforts should be taken as comforts and should not be mitigated for necessities.

The activities that we have taken up during our childhood like cycling, badminton, reading books have made us active and socially aware persons that we are today. And I would like to see my daughter excel over me. If noddy cartoons are substituting for noddy books, my purpose is defeated.

Technology should be embraced, globalisation acknowledged and accepted but all said and done, the kids need to be self-confident and independent when they grow up. These qualities are inculcated in childhood from minor things like encouraging the kids to go buy small items from shops and talk to the shopkeeper themselves, buying metro/movie tickets themselves, etc. By encouraging the kids to walk to the market you make them capable of handling emergency situations where god forbid maybe no mode of conveyance is available. If he/she is self-confident, he/she can manage to get a public conveyance, find a way home even. Of course, I am not referring to the infants, but the process has to start right from the beginning itself. When they are older, they may venture out of homes for further education/careers where they have to live in hostels and/or PG arrangements. How does one ensure that these comforts will always be available to them. My sister is doing MBBS and lives in a hostel without airconditioners/coolers and refrigerators. I myself am a professional who have to visit clients and am totally aware that these comforts cannot be provided in all companies where we may have to work. If they are there, good, if not, it doesn't matter. And we are thankful to our parents that they have taught us to deal with such situations.

Although my daughter goes to an AC playschool, the fact that the school was an AC was not the basis for my selection. I selected it for the sole reason that I found the environment and course curriculum better than other playschools in my area. Then again, I make sure that my daughter does not switch on the AC at home during the day. It is allowed only at bedtime. This is to ensure that comfort remains a comfort.

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Permalink Reply by Ginni on April 14, 2009 at 11:16am

very well said nish but today generation believes in more show off and false prestige.we don't
realize we are making our children foundation hollow by pampering them. what we are today because of our parents strict discipline i really admire your words.

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Permalink Reply by deepak gupta on November 13, 2009 at 5:03pm

i agree with subhash and nish.no more thought to write on this one.

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Permalink Reply by Shina on November 13, 2009 at 5:23pm

True we should change with time....and things are changing too. But should we not consider whether this change is really required and what will be the repurcussions of adopting the change, in long run. Many of us believe in the theory of "lets live for today, kal kisne dekha hai". But I beleive in the theory " apna kal humein aaj hi banana hai, lets work to make our tomorrow better".

rahulji has very nicely written in other discussion "there is a thin line between caring and pampering ". If we are able to demarcate where this thin line is, our lives will lot more happier in coming times

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Permalink Reply by sweet nothings on November 14, 2009 at 11:30am

I dont know y such a fuss is created for AC schools...... though my daughter doesnt know what a cooler is but still i dont consider AC as a necessity....... yes i believe that AC schools make ur child delicate...... i'll give u an example... therez a kid i know(in AC school),he is so used to AC that he cannot step out of the house during summers,he gets ill v easily if at all he steps out coz he is not used to it,he doesnt go for any outdoor activities coz he has become so lethargic that he likes to stay at home only..... well i dont know if these r the side effects of AC or not but i think AC schools kind of hinder the growth of a child........kids should have some habbit of staying without AC

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Permalink Reply by deepak on November 16, 2009 at 9:04am

well said i agree with you shilpi

ShilpiJain said:

True we should change with time....and things are changing too. But should we not consider whether this change is really required and what will be the repurcussions of adopting the change, in long run. Many of us believe in the theory of "lets live for today, kal kisne dekha hai". But I beleive in the theory " apna kal humein aaj hi banana hai, lets work to make our tomorrow better".

rahulji has very nicely written in other discussion "there is a thin line between caring and pampering ". If we are able to demarcate where this thin line is, our lives will lot more happier in coming times

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Permalink Reply by Ravneet Kaur on November 16, 2009 at 11:53am

Very well said Nish, I completely agree with you. We as parents, are responsible for the personality development of our children. By providing them comforts like AC everywhere, we are impairing our children. With the increasing demand of laptops, playstations and cartoon network, there is a house arrest for children and they refrain themselves from the physical activities and other exercises like reading newspapers, story books which are required for an overall development. We all dream of providing such education to our children which would groom them into leaders but we tend to forget that its not AC culture and technologies like smartboards and laptops only which turns them into global players but the spirit of confidence and independence, decision making abilities and ability to cope with contingencies are the vital skillsets required for a strong business acumen. Such brilliance, rational judgement and sagacity can be acquired by drilling oneself physcially and mentally.

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