The mature innocence

For heaven’s sake, somebody please tell me where has the adorable innocence of childhood gone? Instead of reading Little Red Robin Hood, sitting on their mother’s lap, kids today are busy vrooming with their Playstation steering wheel, plopping on a racing game seat! The other day my young niece, who’s just 9, surprised me when she said she wants to color her hair because then she would look more ‘cool’. Now children as young as that are busy upping their cool quotient.

I remember when I was that young, I used to potter around in the house in my pinafores. I decorated my doll house and found pleasure in such ‘uncool’, gizmo-unfriendly things.

Now kids don’t shy away from flaunting their ‘adult’ outfits. Even before they learn to spell their father’s name, they learn to say ‘don to patadna muskil hi nahi, namumtin he….’. They worry more about their own weight than their schoolbags’, they wear make-up to school (can you beat that!), they sing romantic tunes in the living room right in front of your guests when they are told to recite some poem and leave everyone in the house dumb-struck. (And yes baby, they could well comprehend the meaning of any damn Bollywood song in their own way.), instead of spending quality time with the family they chat on the internet or keep sms-ing ‘stuff’ to their friends. No wonder their teenage might find them on the wrong side of the sheet.

If parents ask them to act their age, they feel left-out, as other children in their group are busy giving us adults the shocks of our lives. And some take pride in showing off their kids’ stupidity. The ‘alpha’ society too hasn’t left these vulnerable kids untouched. Markets today offer thongs for children and skanky toys are profusely available for sale. Kids market is flourishing like never before. But the saddest part is it is awaking a dormant phenomenon, which could cause an unforeseen damage to the world & blow up an entire generation in ashes..

I don’t know who is to blame for all this; the parents, the media or the changing trends?

I think all of these hold a responsibility towards gardening and protecting the future of the Gen-Z. It has to be a combined effort. The negative rippling effects of this change have to be fielded together, with care.