Hi! So it's children's day today- 14 November. And as a children's author and ex- teacher, I've been wittingly and non -wittingly, expected to do a great deal with children. Things have drastically altered since we were kids. When I look around at today's children I'm awestruck. Truly. They are so smart well informed and savvy. They read books I didn't think of reading, they think of things I never dreamt of. And they have so much more on their plates we didn't have- competition, population explosion with all its after effects. And they also are far more vulnerable emotionally and physically than we were. A terrible complexity has crept into their lives. Perhaps that's why there's a sharp increase in the fantasy genre in the YA and middle school section. Let's face it. In our time we didn't have to be tutored in the difference between good and bad touch. It's a pity that our children are not safe. We worry all the time they step out of their houses. Predators might materialise in any form- their bus driver, the guard, the lift man, just anyone. That wide eyed innocence with which we regarded the world has gone for good. Today TV and video games have replaced outdoor games and diseases in the younger children are on the rise. There's something to be said for the old fashioned outdoor games. Instead I see them being kept indoors and going to school in pollution masks to ward off the pollution. I read about suicides in papers after results are declared. I read about child rapes, about babies being assaulted and I wonder about the world the children of today inhabit. What can we do as parents, teachers and elders to save our children? Keep them safe? Help them fight their battles in this world where so little makes sense? Honestly? I don't know. All we can do is hold them close and love them no matter what. Teach them that losing is as important as winning. Teach them to respect life in all its forms. Teach them that the real religion is love irrespective of whether you are a Hindu, Muslim or Christian or Sikh. That the color of your skin makes no difference. What matters is who you are inside that skin. And you teach them not by lecturing them. Not by telling them. By doing it. By showing them by example.
If we can show our sons to respect girls and our daughters to take steps without fear or shame, then half the battle is won. This culture of rape can be stopped by mothers instilling in their sons an aversion to physical subjugation and mental humiliation of women. It is centuries old and has its roots so deep that we cannot destroy it completely. It keeps resurfacing time and again. But we can make a beginning. In our homes. With our sons and daughters. Give our daughters wings. And our sons compassion and the understanding that real strength does not come from subjugation. Real strength comes from pulling others up to stand beside you. Not crushing them.
Give them the wonder of watching butterflies flitting from flower to flower. Give them the marvel of a sunrise. Give them moments of stillness. Give them repose. Give them peace. Above all, the importance of knowing themselves. Because that is the knowledge that will outlast all. Let us return to them the innocence and wonder that is lost, bit by bit. Return to them the simplicity that childhood used to mean. Surely what was, can be again?
Let's all vow to eradicate child rape and teen suicides. Step by step- today on children's day.
