Nuclear families taking a toll on children

WITH CONSUMERISM on the rise, there has also been a considerable increase in double income families, with both husband and wife going out to work. However, this desire to augment income for a better status and lifestyle has brought misery to kids. No doubt the quest of most people is to ensure a better standard of living for their children but to fulfill this need, they do not even hesitate to leave their children at creches.

WITH CONSUMERISM on the rise, there has also been a considerable increase in double income families, with both husband and wife going out to work. However, this desire to augment income for a better status and lifestyle has brought misery to kids. No doubt the quest of most people is to ensure a better standard of living for their children but to fulfill this need, they do not even hesitate to leave their children at crèches.

HT Image

These kids are of such a tender age that several of them don’t know the job profile of their parents while others sometimes take the creche operator to be their mother.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Astha Shukla says, “Mamma ghal pal, evening mein hum ghal jayenge (My mother is at home and she will take me home in the evening).” She does not even know that her mother is working somewhere.

However, Akansha Gupta, a three-year-old girl, says, “I am happy in the creche because my mom comes here a number of times in a day to meet me.”

When a child spends the maximum time with others and gets love from them, then naturally he leans towards those persons.

This fact is corroborated when four-year-old Aswin is shown his creche owner Mary Benedict’s photograph. For him, Benedict is his mamma and he even gets annoyed when one pesters him by saying she is not his mamma.

However, parents have their own reasons and compulsions, which force them to leave their children in crèches. Tanu Dang, a lecturer in CSJM University says that her husband and she have to work for the upkeep of the family. Admitting that it was not a happy decision to leave their son at a creche, she said she had no other option but to go for it with a heavy heart. She further says that it is a better idea in comparison to leaving the child in the house alone. “My son learnt a lot in the creche and when he joined school he knew much more compared to other children of his age,” she adds.

Dang also suggested that the government should implement a rule under which people should get their creche registered. It would give authenticity to the crèche, she feels.

However, Kanchan Tiwari, a nurse, said that she missed her 10- month-old baby girl every moment during her work. But she has to do the job to make herself financially strong. She further says, “I regret not giving time to my daughter but as nursing is a job for serving people, somewhere it removes my guilt.”

Nisha Mohan, an employee in an export firm, said that she did not want her son to be part of a creche but her husband lived in South India and she could not depend on relatives for looking after her son as everyone had a busy life.

She said, “My son only needs love and affection which he is getting in the crèche. That’s why he is comfortable there. But I know he needs me a lot because no one can replace me”.