Gen Next !

Generation gap !!
A phrase I've been listening from my parents since a child. My dad used to speak a lot about generation gap. Whenever me and my younger brother started misbehaving, or went a bit out of control, we were given a long lecture on how they used to behave as kids, and how the present generation is getting totally wayward.(Rings a bell?? I think its a common story in every household). Fifteen years later, the tables have turned, and its now my turn to actually control my kids, and keep worrying about their behavior.With two boys in my house, one a toddler and another a preschooler, I am always on my toes. The common topics that constantly revolve around my mommy-brain are "Table Manners"(or for that matter, actual Manners) , "Mealtime Madness" and "Social behavior". These must be the highest goals to be achieved for any typical parent.

Sometimes, as I reel back my past scenes, with Dad relating stories of his childhood, a smile breaks onto my lips. When it was our turn to hang our heads down and relentlessly listen to our dad's lessons on behaviour, little did we realize the
importance of his preachings. We siblings were so literally used to his fables that it sometimes turned into either a giggle or a yawn. Sorry Dad !!

Thinking twice, the generation gap actually exists not only in age or moral behaviour, but also in technology too. Undoubtedly, the 20th century has been the most radical century of all times. We've witnessed the evolution of all the important electronic and electrical equipments in this century itself. We can still hear our grandparents relating incidents about the first street light, or the first radio transmission. As the next generation leaped, our parents got used to electricity or radio, but were still awed with gadgets like Television, Washing machine, etc. As kids, everyone should agree that our generation has taken all the above for granted. I remember the only new invention of our times, the Computer making its way into homes. In the 90's, when the Windows made its revolutionary path into millions of homes as PCs, there was a great deal of enthusiasm, and the Internet was just supposed to be a great boon to the human world.

Now, in the 21st century, raising kids is literally a challenge, with all the gadgets and equipments at common use. When I tell my kids about the frequent power outage in India, due to lack of proper funds, they are literally surprised and feel it as if it's something totally alien. They just can't imagine life without internet, leave alone the basic electricity. The present generation kids are so much used to the latest technology, that you find the various age groups of kids with their respective gizmos. The preschoolers with the phonics websites, the kindergartners with the Leap frog systems, the primary-schoolers with their video games, and the list goes on. I don't want to include the Big kids, who are hooked onto their Wii or Play stations though. It doesn't qualify as a generation gap. (Or maybe, it's just an attempt of our population to bridge a gap between the two generations....hehehe)

Getting back to moral behavior, I cannot completely agree on Dad saying that their generation was much better than ours, etc etc. Come on, there might have been exceptions in any time. If the kids in the 50's didn't retort back, were they less subjected to hard feelings towards their parents? It was just that their generation couldn't vent their feelings properly, which resulted in more frustration and depression. It's definitely a feel-good factor when kids are able to share their feelings and their fears, very much unlike the older generation where a father figure was met with only FEAR and a stick. In fact, gone are the days where the parents have to be so strict, that the kids should feel that they are in an army school. Studies have definitely proved that the more you bond with the kid, the better they evolve and share their feelings with you.

In the present times, getting the best out of your kids is definitely a huge task for a mother, like the social manners, or using the basic phrases "Thank You" or "sorry". Here, I should mention that kids normally tend to freeze when asked to say sorry, if a mistake is done by them. My elder one, for instance. He just wouldn't relent to my warning, and finds it extremely difficult to apologize for his sometimes-ruthless behavior. I keep worrying if this remains a trait in him, but hope that he overcomes it soon enough, at least by the time he realizes it's value.

Going back a half-century again, as normal Indians, who got their independence very recently, our senior generation found food only as a great luxury. Wasting food is an incorrigible crime, and for most Hindus, food was still considered a God. Amongst one of the many kids of a huge family, an individual was just offered a very minimal two meals a day, and that itself was a great blessing. Right now, anyone who enters a modern-day kitchen(you can enter mine, promising not to faint), will realize how many varieties of foods are available for the kiddos. The supermarkets are screaming with newer varieties of groceries, especially for kids, and it only makes a mom's job easier. The present day kids definitely would laugh at food being called "God". And that's when I get tempted to show them the droughts and famines still present in some parts of the world. We, as parents shouldn't definitely allow this kind of recklessness towards their mealtime madness.

Now, as I continue to raise my two pranksters, and when its time I teach them the little lessons on morale and behavior, I am not surprised when my younger one( who is two) actually says "NO" in a loud voice, and my elder one breaks into a giggle. I wouldn't be lying if I said that I am on the verge of laughter too. Maybe, the kid in me is still alive, but the mother in me asks me to behave properly for the sake of my kids at least ! It's all in a parent, to bridge the gap between the generations. And it cannot be achieved through any preachings. It's all an individual perception. So get to practice and bridge the gap, in your own little way.

Must dash now, the next gen is calling !!