Modern World Parenting Dilemmas

Dr Jyoti Kapoor, a parent and a psychiatrist at Paras Hospital, Gurugram, delves into the dilemmas faced by parents in today’s fast changing world, and how best to deal with them without getting into confrontation with one’s children

- Dr Jyoti Kapoor

The current generation of parents is probably one which has been exposed to maximum flux in the socio-cultural environment over their life span, both in terms of ideology and practicality. We grew up with utilitarian resources -- electricity was not always there, Doordarshan was only available for a few hours a day, we could freely play in parks and cycle on roads, and read books borrowed from libraries, or rent comic books from small neighborhood hattis (Sunny di Hatti in my neighborhood had everything, from bread to books), eat an occasional samosa, and find pleasure in the small luxuries of life. Our parents had already struggled through newly independent India’s stumbling toddler phase, and we were being brought up in the youthful phase. Suddenly, there were major innovations, from color televisions to 24x7 cable TV entertainment, Internet access in Internet cafés to fast WiFi for global access at everyone’s fingertips; a single landline in an STD booth around the corner or a well to do uncle’s house, to cell phone toting maids; malls, metros and frequent fliers..... in the last three decades, the 40 somethings of today have moved from seeing stars while sleeping on rooftops in summer to constantly air-conditioned bedrooms and no clear view of the sky!

And that is where starts the modern parenting dilemma .... born in a period of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana, modeled in a world of The Bold and the Beautiful, dancing to the rhythms of I want to break free. We -- the Generation X, are parents to Generation Z in the 21st century, with parts of Generation Y scattered in-between.