Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Parental Woes

I read somewhere this " If you have a kid, you are a parent. If you have two kids, you are a referee. I guess that qualifies me as referee. But since my eldest is in hostel I don't have any problem of having to intervene kid fights. Strangely enough, I had to intervene with my youngest kid's fight with her mother.

It is a kind of great ordeal to get Rae to go to school. Right from the time she is woken up the trouble starts. A compulsive procrastinator and strong willed , she creates havoc at home in the mornings. The energy needed to handle this kid is huge and by the time she is off to school, her mother is completely done.

I was discussing this with one of my friend and he said that " Kids are very sensitive and if their ego is bruised at a very early age, they may grow up to be very difficult adults. " Strangely what about 40 year old parent's ego ?

It is a dilemma. If you discipline your child too much then they grow up to be obedient, orderly, good and boring human beings. A free spirited child can grow up to be an independent, strong willed and irrational but very interesting human being capable of changing the world. But our intolerance during their growing up can kill the real potential . How does one balance that ?

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