It was vacation time and the grandson was excited to live with his ever loving grandparents
He always waited for the day when his exams got over that had over the years come to haunt
He always had his back pack ready with bare essentials required to help him walk up the hill
His grandparents always used to provide him this analogy of living a simple life without frills
He got ready early in the day waiting for his grandparents to complete their morning prayers
He excitedly spoke about his experience since the last visit especially his first dive in to water
He spoke about a sage visiting their school and urging them to be conscious of their actions
He expressed a desire to lead a fulfilling life and always take decisions without any hesitation
He wanted to know from his grandparents about their various experiences in their lifetime
He wanted to know how things had changed over the years and their evolution over the years
He wanted to know whether they had any regrets on decisions and judgement calls on others
He wanted to be aware of how to lead a discerning life and never show an attitude of a quitter
He had so many questions on life but he had so many issues to handle as a part of his routine
He wanted the timely & right guidance so that he could build a personality pure and pristine
He wanted his grandparents to advise him on how to consciously have his energies align
He wanted to absorb the true essence of life and live out the ultimate desire of the divine!
7 comments:
Blessed are today's kids if:
a.) They have parents who see the significance of theirs wards getting significant face time with grandparents
b.) They have grandparents who have the nerve to teach them the virtues of life in the face of stiff resistance from their own parents who are conforming to and tuned to more a modern and fast paced approach towards life
I will look forward to the subsequent chapters
You made me remember the time that I spent with my grand-parents and my deepest sorrow when I came face to face with the ultimte reality when they passsed away.
I don't see too many children spending time with their parents on account of their focus on career. Hence, within my circle, I really do not see too many grand-children getting to spend time with grand-parents.
As also, due to various ailments, I also see a trend of grand-parents passing away early even in early 60s as compared to my grand-parents who lived much beyond late 80s.
But wisdom gained from experience has always to be respected and learnt from.
Your observations and thoughts are interesting and I will endeavor to follow your blog.
Cheers........Sree
Would just like to add what NUBONIHIVE has mentioned:
1. As I have observed our parent's generation and our generation, there is a very obvious personality issue.
2. There are some parents who are quick to adapt to the changing requirements of life be it adopting new technology or getting used to the new pace of life that is the need of the hour. There are also people who are rigid and set in their ways that actually causes harm to their own kids life!
3.One would attribute that these have always been existent and may even be present in people of our generation. Wisdom comes if people learn from their experiences and the experiences of others before them and those who live when they exist.
4. It is imperative that one should let our kids from Generation Next learn from grand-parents who are perceived to be wise else it may have a negative effect. To not let the earlier generation who may uncaringly not realize the negative influence of their rigid attitude affect the Generation Next would in my view be the better decision.
5. In fact, when I have spoken to many of my friends in my network many of them informally share the same view, though many lack the courage to confront and in India there is not much social system support where children can take up these issues and counsellors actually counselling parents to give up their negative attitudes. In fact that is one reason why children decided to stay away from their parents primarily after marriage.
Look forward to response of others on my thoughts and their thoughts on the same.
Cheers....Mahesh
I think when I was young, I lacked the maturity to ask my grand-parents about their life experiences and guidance on how to lead my life. Though, they were ever-loving and always used to give advice, the value of which I am able to now appreciate when I really am able to understand the realities of life.
However, kids of Generation Next are exposed to information overload about most things in life at an early age. This combined with the support of our generation makes them question various things in life at an early age. The possibility of them wanting to understand the nuances of life cannot be ruled out. At the same time, it is my view that very few kids would be able to give up their addiction to entertainment and computer games beyond the rigorous course requiremnts to spend time with grand-parents. It may be an idealistic scenario but not sure of its implementability from a practical point of view. Even during vacations, many of those who I know end up visiting various places rather than spend time with grand-parents!
Anyways look forward to other views onn the same.
But, it has been interesting to share and read up diverse view-points on the above sensitive issue.
Regards......Rajesh
The personality issues and generation gap issues will always be present. The battles between the old and new ways of thinking will always be there. The old has to give in to the new at some point of time.
The problem I see is that today's parents are flawed in their thinking and narrow in their mindset when it comes to providing a diverse exposure to their kids. Often times kids are exposed to environments that parents can relate to and isolated from those that parents cannot relate to.
More often than not children(even grown up teenagers) are treated with "Kid Gloves" and the "Protective Mentality" of parents cushions children from getting a myriad range of experiences. And one such wonderful experience is time spent with grandparents; however woefully out of place their thinking may be.
Kids need to be taught the discipline of embracing different experiences ,learn lessons from those experiences and arrive at their own decisions. Robbing children of experiences and interactions with people because of parent's disagreements/divergent view points with those people is a huge misstep in "Development of Kids".
The biggest lessons of my life came from interacting with people that my family could not relate to. But they never stopped me from interacting with them.
Hey Nubonihive
I agree with many of your views. Yes, there has to be a new order as evolution takes place and in some way the rule of the jungle plays a critical role - survival of the fittest! Either one adapts or one perishes!
I can also vouch for the fact that when I started working it improved my awareness of the world. Though having been born and brought up in a cosmopolitan city, had very limited interactions with folks from other communities beyond the societal niceties. Sometimes, though I think that was the best my parents could do when they had to cope up with the pressures of bringing up me and my siblings when they had no other support system in the city. I am able to better appreciate the same today when I am bringing up my kids, despite having some support system in light of the dynamic challenges and the need to ensure they are given myriad experiences that I felt we missed out in our childhood!
I do realize there is no magic solution in parenting. Though, the other day I read up that apparently there is a genius child who has become a faculty at 21 at one of the IIT in India. His parents say that they planned his conception in such a way that he is going to be a genius. They went through a process and knew from the start that his genetic make-up is bound to make him a genius.
Not sure whether this is Indicative of the start of a new world order where prospective parents start thinking on completely planning the genetic code of children and whether this is going to even further reduce the existing diversity and make humans more of machines than what they already are.
Look forward to your views.....
Cheers.......Mahesh
One needs to be able to appreciate and respect one's grand-parents for their wisdom.
I have been part of a family where when I passed class X, I had grand-parents who were just about in their early 50s. I believe early marriage that was/is prevalent to a large degree in our community contributed to the same.
I really do not have any great memories where I spent time with my grand-parents since they were also busy pursuing their ambitions in life be it raking profits/participating actively in social functions. That hardly left much time to give any advise to us grand-children.
I think this would only be possible if there is atleast about 50 years difference between grand-parents and grand-children where their life priorities are different and they make time consciously for their grand-children having gone beyond ambitions & desires that affects many at a younger age.
I look forward to hearing from others on their opinion. I only say that memories tend to be different.
Regards.....Jayesh
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