Stage

All round you could see excited eager faces. It was annual day of our campus and we were having a cultural event. Children dressed up in different costumes, parents running around doing the last minute make up for them.. the whole place was colourful and lively. In the midst of all this there were the tiny tots just two or two and a half also dressed up in complicated costume and there was a clear discomfort on their faces. Others calling them cute and pulling their cheeks, hugging and holding them at their will. After all this when the time came for the children to be on stage most of them stuck to their mothers and refused to get down. One or two children in the end due to the persistence of the parent stood on the stage but the others refused and ended up being carried by the mother for the whole programme.

Just thinking what is it that makes a parent to do this. Is it the eagerness to give their child exposure or is it just they are just getting to satisfy their whims and fancies because the child does not have a say. What would the child be thinking in those uncomfortable clothes, how would he/she be feeling, what is he thinking about the elders around him who do not treat him as an individual?

Why is it so difficult for parents to allow the child to be just be? Why are we so eager to show off our children in front of others treating them like puppets? Why do parents and adults feel that a child has to prove himself/herself in front of others all the time. Is it our insecurity with ourselves?

When a child is constantly showcased in front of others ..and the child is constantly fed with appreciation or praise would he be doing things only to get that praise or would he still enjoy what he is doing?

It is about time we as parents sit back and think about our actions and the thought process behind it and allow space to our children to grow at their own pace.