Great Expectations !!!

Oh God! This boy never wants to study. All he wants in life is to play and eat and sleep. When will you do your homework beta, and Monday se unit test start hain, when will you study for them. Have you even decided what do you want to become in life. Who told you Commerce is good, you must take up Science. This is that phrase that we all have heard throughout our schooling life. Our parents always believed that we want to do everything in life but study. We were compared with our siblings and cousins and uncles and friends and dad's friend's son and the list goes on. It seemed as if every other human on this earth is hell more intelligent than us.

Then we grow up, we give entrance exams to numerous colleges for numerous courses, about each of which we are equally clueless. Who the hell can distinguish Computer from IT from Electronics from Electrical & Communications anyways. Whether or not we know anything about our subjects is immaterial. All that matters is that we got through a good college. And then all of a sudden we become the jewel of the family. All we hear from our relatives is, "yeh toh bachpan se he intelligent tha", "iska toh ho he jaana tha admission", and we are like "Oh really, did you not have an opposite opinion about me few months back" and worst of all, "beta ab chintu bhi 10th mein hai, we'll send him to you, you are going to counsel him regarding his career options, tell him which coaching classes to join, which center to go to, what is the best time to take classes, weekdays or weekend, which bus to take to, which foot to step out first while boarding the bus......... bla bla bla". This last one is the best, because at that time only thought that occurs to our mind is, "Dude, I am still unsure about my future, and my getting into a college was not planned, it was my luck that 90% of the students who are more or atleast equally qualified, worked equally hard simply could not make it during those 2 and a half hours." 

And then the anxious parents are discussing amongst themselves, "We do not pressurize our children.We let them go at their own pace".Oh yeah, sending your kids to 1000 unknown people for counseling, eating their brains, the moment they start watching TV, asking them not to go out to play and most irritatingly, "casually" telling them stories of all the cousins and cousin's cousin's friends who made it into "some" college. Is it NOT pressurizing ? Huh, I do not think so. This is the worst kind of mental torture. It is much better to directly ask the child to be more disciplined and work hard. Rather than 24*7 comparing him with anonymous, irrelevant, immaterial figures. 

Hey, I am not saying that this happens with each one of us, but I am sure we all have experienced such behaviors directly or indirectly at some point in time. There is no particular reason for me writing this, nor is there a definite moral of the story. But I do believe, we should let children decide things on their own. Be there for help, to guide, to safeguard, to befriend them, to warn them. But in no capacity try and restrict their line of thought by superimposing that of yours. Never push them into something, because if at all they be unsatisfied with their lives, they will have only you to be blamed.