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What fun if instead of gathering together to play video games, they gather together to take up projects like tree planting or ‘save the lakes’?
“It’s getting hotter by the day! My AC is on 24/7!” As summer intensified so did the Whatsapp messages. The messages were all about how it was so difficult to survive without AC in a place like Chennai.
“My children don’t move outside even in the evenings” one mother declared proudly. “They can’t bear to step out of their comfy AC room!”
‘Is that a thing to be proud of?’ I wondered. We are giving our children everything under the sun (pun intended). AC, comfortable indoor games and computers to see to it that they don’t need to venture out.
But what we are removing from them is something very very precious. The power of making choices!
Our children, provided with all comfort, are not even aware that they have a choice – a choice which makes them flexible and adaptable. Taking things for granted, they start demanding and expecting the same level of comfort wherever they go and are unable to function. If God forbid, they have to spend time in an environment where all they take for granted is not available, what happens then?
Let us teach our children to accept the sweltering heat and face it head-on. And maybe when it becomes intolerable, they will not start complaining as is their habit now but inquire into why we are undergoing such extreme weather conditions. That will be an ideal time to introduce global warming to them… Maybe then when they face the problem in its face, instead of cocooning themselves with blankets in AC rooms, they will realize the importance of increasing the earth’s green cover.
That is the time they will enjoy getting their hands dirty once again with the warm healing mud of the earth. What fun if instead of gathering together to play video games, they gather together to take up projects like tree planting or ‘save the lakes’? Who knows where that exploration will lead them? Maybe into the depths of their own selves.
Ultimately it will change them from compulsive human beings who demand things as their birthright to aware beings who use their power of choice wisely to create earth which is heaven.
Isn’t that the greatest gift we can give our children?
Image via Unsplash
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This post has published with none or minimal editorial intervention. Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
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