It’s not quite a novel fact that we belong to a hybrid generation. This fact has well sunken down most of us and we are trying to squeeze in the middle of two groups of undeniably different type of people. We are the strong unwavering bridge between a very orthodox past and a very happening future. Thanks to our grounded roots we can branch out into the latest world. But apparently this lap is taking a huge toll on all of us. We are trying to merge two sides which are going well in the opposite direction.
Can’t quite get it. Well, we are trying to preserve our age old cultures by holding onto traditional weddings, functions but trying in to fit in with the coming generation with our tweets, selfies and instagramming. We are trying to incorporate our age old home remedies with latest medical ideology and research. We can still eat the old traditional flavours made at our homes to the different fast food without a complain We are teaching our parents how to use the laptop, phone, facebook and the coming generation about family traditions, cultural thoughts and values. And somehow we are precariously balancing in between.
We can happily boast about being proud owners of pagers, a 10 kg desktop and CPU,visiting internet cafe’s and cyber chat sites, to our kids. And now going with the latest flow we are able to answer our phone calls from our watches . All said and done we are happily flowing with the transition , to say we are one of a kind hybrid generation.
Catching up with technology is a totally cool thing but the not so fun part is the parenting. When we try to put different ideologies, which are poles apart, in the same basket , we are failing greatly. Having a dozen kids, who would stand up in uniformity as soon as the father entered home, out of respect, was a generation that we’ve come from. But now as we try to be the friendliest and most happening parent, secretly longing to be the best parent, we are not able to get back the same love or respect from our kids. ‘Order me and i’ll do as u say’ is the slogan in all our homes. We sadly aren’t in a position to discipline , punish or question. We would still see our elders and show absolute respect. But keeping the same hope from coming generations would be a highly ambiguous thought.
The advice of our elders is hard to apply in today’s times and yet the views of our compatriots is not doing the magic trick either. Sadly we are living in a time where we think that we are getting too much information on the techniques of parenting but we find the amount of info is making us nerve wracking parents, failing miserably at the task. The earlier generations did not get news feeds with parenting tips, the healthiest meal planners or how to manage a perfect kids day out,yet they managed to raised perfectly well balanced human beings. And now with all the technology and information and watsapp parenting groups, we still feel as if we are lacking as parents and we are not quite upto the mark the society needs us to be. I think this too much of trying is bringing us to a point of exhaustion creating a confused home and a confused kid. Seeing the thousands of seemingly perfect parents out there sinks a realization into us that we are still not ready to raise our kids.
I think we just need to stop trying to get in all the parenting facts spot on . We need to balance the old with the new. We need to stop admiring the seemingly perfect parents out there and get into the depression zone realizing how perfectly imperfect we are. Yes, we are IMPERFECT. and that’s the key to raise perfect kids. Provided we acknowledge our imperfections and flaws as a parent. We aren’t born parents but our kids make us one. We just need to do what our heart says. Maybe we just need to be ourselves to raise our children .We can’t single out only one element in parenting. We can’t say we just need to love the child or be like friends. We cannot be the absolute strict parents like earlier times. Discipline, love, correction, friendship, respect, trust are all elements that go hand in hand in the child’s development. When we just push one factor way to far, our parenting might get toppled over, creating a highly demanding parent child relationship.
Each day is a new journey. We need to hold on to this beautiful relationship, infusing a variety of actions and emotions into our day to day handling of our kids. We need to squeeze out a little of the past into this journey while taking in the latest spice that has come into our society and kids, creating a perfect fusion of not so ancient still yet modern strategies.