Rachna says

Gautam’s behavior is still not the most desirable but there is some improvement. I have been strictly implementing the time outs and the punishments threatened. A Counselor I had spoken to a long time back had told me that kids are such a handful these days because we let them literally dictate our lives. It is good that they question and are demanding but surely we do not need to explain to them the rationale of every single rule in the house. Sometimes, authority need to be shown. We have to tell them, do this because I am your parent and I tell you so. Why are we falling into this guilt trap of “hurting” our child? Also, enforcing discipline does not mean that one must stay stern all the time. Love your child as openly as possible for him to have the trust and communcation to understand his parent and to feel free to share.

I am seeing so many spoilt brats in my kids’ generation. As parents is it not our duty to churn out ambitious, dedicated, overzealous adults as much as responsible, humble, polite, do gooder human beings. Is the human element getting neglected in the rat race we push our children towards. Excel, excel, excel is what they hear all the time. There is an advantage of being independent, free souls but parents have to ensure that detachment and apathy do not come along.

Why are we obsessed with satisfying every fancy of our child? How will we teach them to cherish something or treat a gift they received with care if they have a problem of plenty. Do kids really need expensive gadgets – Nintendos, Wiis, PSs? They do more due to peer pressure than anything else. And, if anything, I’ve seen Siddharth become much more impatient since he got his Nintendo DS. And now strictly he is allowed to play only during weekends.

With so many gadgets, TV, channels, internet vying for attention, we are slowly losing the family time which we had spent with our parents playing carrom, chess, scrabble and outdoor games like cricket, badminton etc. Each member in the house is so preoccupied with one gadget of his/ her own that one has to be forced into spending time with another which involves pure connecting or bonding.

Definitely parenting has become more exhauting and a challenge to strike the right balance between control and letting go. Sometimes when we ask our elders about how to deal with something, the advice they give in some instances seems so outdated. I think it is easier asking friends because at least they are on the same wavelength.