In one of the final scenes in Tamasha, Ranbir Kapoor succinctly unleashes his catharsis before his parents on what parental coercion has done to him. The scene involving Kapoor’s monologue paints the story of how a refugee fled to India during partition and made his way to top after much struggle. His successor also succeeded after striving hard while his own son failed to understand the logic behind the rat race. By the time he realised it, he had already turned into a man-made robot.
A UNICEF reasearch released on 2022 stated that India has the highest youth suicide rate globally. The reasearch also made critical revelations that almost 23.3% of school children and adolescents have psychiatric disorders. The participating children were between 15-24 years of age, among whom only 41% confessed that it is good to receive mental support from peers against global average of 81%.
Indifference of desi parents in lending support to the mental illness of children is nothing strange in the country. Despite an improved scenario, the hegemony of parents in dominating their career decisions is the prime reason behind such illnesses. ” Engineer hoga yah Doctor”, the phrase is still pervasive in our country, a desi rhetoric prior to birth indicating whether the child should be a doctor or engineer. Another one which makes a prominent inferiority complex is ” Sharma Ji Ka Beta”, indicating how successful is the son/daughter of their neighbour.
The obscure mentality in determining the career paths of children could be identified in Quora Application ( a question and answer platform). In which insane questions appear such as “Which institute is better for my kid in 4th standard for IIT?”. The obnoxiousness is further stooped when questions come as such, “My son is six months old, when is the right time to prepare for medical examinations? “.
It is a fact that the parents of today’s millennials grew up in joint families between the 70s and 90s. In a bid to maintain order of the house, our grandparents trained them with austerity, which they mistook as self-discipline. The similar pattern became resonant today with their style of moral-policing and beratement. This has propelled a sense of monopoly on their means of dressing, relationship and education among others. Nevertheless, an instant realization must guide them in the way that circumstances and environment were different back in those times and they no longer exist the same.
There is a sense of duty every parent must embrace in letting their child open to new possibilities. As the world is constantly becoming cognisant to newer developments such as recognising the rights of special gender to underscoring the importance of girl’s education, responsible parenting must keep its role intact in keeping children away from any dogmas or taboos.
After all, everything that a child needs during his/her period of growth is a companion from their parents. These roles must not turn void and insignificant in any circumstances. Such deficits must be apprehended by every parent and devote their time in recognising their needs. External environment plays an imperative role in molding a child’s life and parents must be considerate to understand it.
Rather than a hostile treatment that induces animosity and gap between parent and children, a compassionate way would do it all. Any efforts in misleading toxic parenting as strict parenting must stand exposed and needs to be called out immediately.