Expression

It is not surprising to note that as adults we have learnt to not be so spontaneous in doing things or even expressing our feelings or thoughts but how the conditioning happens from childhood is really interesting.
The other day during my activity class when we were making cookies even after taking many precautions varsha touched the oven and got burnt in the arm. She did not cry but I could see it was hurting badly so when I washed it with water and was applying ice, I kept telling her that it must be hurting and she looked at all the children around her and kept shaking her head, I just held her close and said,’it is hurting isn’t it?’ She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said,’mummy is it ok if I cry’, I was taken aback and I told her she could cry as much as she wanted and hugged her and she cried till she felt a little better. This left me thinking why would a child of six years hold on to her tears. It reminded me of an incident which happened a week earlier where I got hurt and when the children came running to me, I just brushed it aside and said I was ok when it was hurting badly so did I through my action give her the message that we cannot be spontaneous in our expression of our feeling. It may or may not be so but the schools are also doing it . The schools tell the children that they should not cry or they cannot express what they feel and if they do they are termed as sensitive children.
The same day varun(almost 11yrs) was excited with what the smaller children were doing and wanted to make cookies too and was jumping around with the other children. The smaller children kept looking at him in a funny way so he came up to me and said,’ why can’t I be a child once in a while , it makes me feel young and good’ and he went back to his jumping but it again got me thinking that all of us have a child in us but we are always told how to behave and we are chided if we bring out the child in us and why should a ten year old feel that he is too old to show his enjoyment the way he wants or feels. As adults we need to be more aware and let the child in us come out and also allow our children to be themselves rather than zombies who cannot show any emotions or feelings and think hundred times before they say or do something.
It is sad that on one side there are children who due to unfortunate circumstances are not able to express themselves and on the other side we are suppressing the natural expression of a child.