‘Children are not unfinished adults, they are complete Children’- Emily Plank

On 14^th November, all of us celebrated Children’s Day with tremendous zeal and enthusiasm. All of us must have wished happy children’s day to our little angels with so much love, must have celebrated the day with sweets, chocolates, cakes, and had a wonderful outing to remember it for the whole week.

But do you really think that we are letting our children enjoy their childhood in a real sense? As parents do you remember the moment when you were sitting with your child in an online class and you witnessed that your child couldn’t respond to the questions asked by the teacher, on the contrary, your child’s peer had answered it all. How did you feel? You felt embarrassed, humiliated, Right? You felt bad more than your own child. Rather than asking your child, “Ohh dear where you are facing the problem? Let’s do it again, I will help you”, you scold your child for not studying, wasting time in playing, etc. Sometimes you yourself prompt the correct answers to your child when there is any kind of online verbal testing situation, just to paint a good picture of your own child in front of others. It becomes more of your prestige issue amongst the group of other parents. Just because we as a parent always want to boast only about the good things of our children,  they are not at all allowed to do mistakes? Why? Don’t you think that childhood is all about making their own mistakes and learning from them?

It’s very important for all of us to cherish childhood, as it lays the foundation for future resilience, strength, personality, and also future learning. Whatever our children will experience now, the same will be reflected in their adulthood. So being adults let us nourish their childhood in the best possible way. Let them enjoy, let them explore all the possibilities, let them grow at their own pace rather than pressure cooking their innocence with stress, anxiety to achieve more than peers, to excel in every field, or to mature early. 

It’s time to take a step back, to take a deep breath, and to realize that not only Children's Day but all other 364 days of the year is all about celebrating and cherishing childhood. Let’s promise ourselves that we as adults should give childhood as one of the best gifts to our children. Let’s not take away their childhood before it's truly gone.

• Spending gadget-free time and doing things with your child helps to build your relationship
• Making special time for playing games and other activities with your child can be a part of everyday life. If your child is small, play even during Bath time or outside before you drop her off at preschool. Every little bit of time makes a positive impact
• Try sharing activities like preparing food, reading, playing word games, going to the park, etc.
• Have a daily ‘connect’ with your child. Talk about how your day went. The good things and how you made peace with not so good things of the day,
• Create a special ritual for you and your child, something that can be done every day. For e.g. Going for a walk together, watching cartoons/TV together, bedtime stories, etc.
• Reinforce positive behavior. For e.g. If your child completes his chores without your asking, acknowledge it with words of appreciation
• Don’t forget to tell your child that you love him/her so much and how much he/she is important to you. Even if your child is older, tell them how special they are and how do you feel if they are around
• Last but not least, some days Laugh your heart out and be silly with your child

Memories of Childhood are the only thing that can be summoned most clearly when we are old and failing. Let’s craft an amazing memoir for our own children. Enjoy all those little things of your child, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

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