E-Paper
It’s time to leave the past behind and move on in the new world
Helping children understand the need to adjust to reality post Covid-19 is crucial
Theodore Roosevelt once said: There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life. These lines came to mind on hearing my 11-year-old grandson Aziz tell his mother with a faint starchiness in his voice: “I want change. I am getting bored. I know every day is a different day, but it is the same routine!”
The young man’s words as he furiously worked on a Rubik’s cube to match colours on each side got me thinking. Is the curfew beginning to weigh on young minds? Think of the daily routine of children of his age, now confined indoors. Imagine the number of times they must be complaining of boredom; coaxing their parents to ‘play’ with them – chess, ludo, carrom! For them, options of indoor games are diminishing, getting exhausted. Frankly, parents lack a child’s perspective, perseverance, patience and stamina to agree to drop everything and start playing with them whenever asked to.
WHEN CONCEPT OF CHANGE CHANGES
Change is desired by everyone, be it a child or adult. It is even more relevant today when coronavirus has changed the very concept of change, life itself and its meaning. There is an essential difference in the times before the pandemic and now. This difference has left us shaken. Things are not the same in so many ways: Earlier, we were told to keep our distance from ‘negative’ people, now we are told to stay away from ‘positive’ people!
Change, at first, is resisted, opposed. Today, we are on the cusp of an unexpected, unanticipated change. Let us accept this and move forward, adjusting our lifestyles and attitude to the new normal.
Let us usher in the changes children desire and deserve.
WHY CHILDREN NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH
Think out-of-the box. Explain to them that certain changes will never be undone; life will continue. The present is painful, but nothing hurts more than remaining stuck where we do not belong.
Cut off from school, classmates and outdoor play, children are now given the liberty to spend more time before a screen –TV, Tab or smart phone. That’s not the real world and this liberty can get to be a liability for them.
Any adversity makes us stronger to cope with stress, strain, worry, concerns. With everything disrupted: From lives to livelihoods, economies to commerce; social relations to social distancing; work to leisure, we have to start gearing up to face whatever comes our way – knowing at the same time that life will continue.
Children will not understand this. Explain, tell them why we have to move on. CS Lewis once said: There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
The present phase will teach us to balance jaan and jahan (life and world) as also to leave our past in the past - or let it destroy our future! Prepare children to change now in the fast changing world!
(The writer is a veteran journalist and former Punjab information commissioner)
