You remember the time parents used to us scare with the stories of the big bad wolf which would eat us up if we were bad kids?
Today we are scared with: "What career will you pursue in the future if you study History?"
Nothing has changed.
And I don't think it very will.
Sooner it will be: "How will you live with someone of some other faith?"
Later it will be: "You should teach your own children how to do this! Else they'll become drug addicts!"
It would seem like parents have always employed the fear mechanism to control us. Someone had truly written, parents are like God. We fear them, somehow. Or perhaps we fear their reaction, or we are afraid of not living up to their expectations.
Parents pressuring kids to breaking point is a valid, contemporary subject.
The following thoughts are taken up from a Bollywood Movie: Chal Chalein.
Most of the students' time is spent in college, then in coaching classes, and finally they return home to stern parents who want them to complete their homework and ensure they secure good marks and become doctors, engineers, and IAS officers. Some even go to the extent of forcing their children to take up Science instead of Arts - killing whatever talent and initiative their children may have. Unable to handle the pressure as well as convince his parents to let him take arts - Navneet Singh kills himself.
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Devastated by his death, his friends approach Advocate Sanjay to sue not only Navneet's but also their respective parents. The Police refuse to register a complaint because the accusation is irrelevant and too much of a personal matter, more so according to the officer 60% of all Indian homes have parents with such attitudes and it is a very normal and acceptable thing.
And it's funny how it is today easily acceptable that a woman can file a case for abuse by her husband and still not 'okay' for children to file a case against their parents. Perhaps that it is easier to sue someone who is not of our own blood. ._.
Of course, even us as children are not comfortable with this idea.
It makes us ungrateful and disrespectful.
''Understanding'' parents can here argue that they are after all not the enemies of their children, they also want the well-being of their kids. They can also say that not all children are the ideal son Prahlad and not all parents are Hiranyakanshappu.
But then we could also add that parents like Kaikeiyi who never understood Bharat also do exist.
As a child myself, I'm not against my parents. I don't think any child has a problem with parents. The problem is rather with parents thoughts.
Parents of today just like parents of long ago have not yet understood the difference between being advice givers and direction givers. Some even let themselves become dictators, unknowingly. And I can't bring myself to blame them. That's how most probably their own parents treated them.
I know that they just want their children's best but how does eventually getting your child to kill himself look like wanting the best for him in any angle?
I seriously can't get it!
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There is a story that goes yet by Indian Mythology, taken up from the Ramayana.
There was once Rama sitting under a tree, never noticing the little squirrel that was trapped under his feet, getting trampled. Still the squirrel didn't squeal a bit. It kept quiet, silently bearing the pain.
When Rama saw it, he asked the squirrel as to why it never told him that he was paining all this while.
And the squirrel replied: "Rama is a name I take whenever I am in pain. It soothes me. But now, how could I utter this name when the pain was being caused by himself?"
Disclaimer: We mean only to share huge compassion with those students who are truly striving hard at school and have huge respects in their hearts for their parents. We just wish that parents were more supportive of these children's dreams rather than forcing their dreams on them.
"Chal Chalein is a 2009 Hindi-language Indian family film directed by Ujjwal Singh and produced by Mahesh Padalkar, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Rati Agnihotri, Mukesh Khanna and Kanwaljeet Singh in a story about the academic pressures on children."
You can catch the movie on YouTube here.
Some good links to read: