Flying without chains

Everything in the universe fills me with awe. The way so many things were created to solve the requirements of other things living or non-living as if someone or something has done it intentionally goes well beyond all possible ways of admiration. Let's take the birth of a human being as an example. Why does the union of a cell of a man and a cell of a woman lead to the creation of another human being? Why can't the combination of those two cells be expelled out of a woman's body as if it's some human waste? Something in the universe, some power probably, something that is beyond human understanding is transforming the union of those two cells into a complex human being. But why are we talking about all this now? It's because we often don't realize that our very existence is a miracle in itself. We often overlook the fact that every human being is a miraculous creation of the universe. So is every kid. They are miracles wrapped in packages of pure love, joy, and laughter.

Even before a child is born, he or she has to pass the test of expectations; The expectations of the parents, relatives, or some random unrelated person regarding the gender of the child based on their unreasonable priorities. Even before he or she can feel their first breath of life, they have to feel a heavy chain called comparison. The comparison of their external appearances and features like height and weight and it's just the beginning. The worst is yet to come. As a kid begins learning to walk or talk, he or she is compared to another kid on how quick or slow they are in learning how to do the basic things. Most of the people don't even care to understand that such abilities can vary based on certain factors like natural intelligence or genes.

Then comes the phase of schooling. The little ones go past the gates of schools carrying heavy books and even heavier expectations. As if that's not enough, we have this emerging concept of international schools and international syllabus which try to feed enormous amount of information into these little developing brains. Expecting kids to memorise poems at an age when they don't even know many basic words of a language and assigning creative tasks that require even the parents to break a sweat are some of the most commonly observed ridiculous tasks that these so called international schools come up with. It's turning out more like a test to the parent's skills rather than an attempt to inspire creativity in the tiny tots. But almost no one says 'No' because these schools need to showcase something differently from what was done in the yesteryears to extort a lot of money and the parents remain mum as they think of the status quo of having their kids studying in international schools. I am not against modernizing schools and education. I am only against unreasonable expectations and unjustified burden on the young minds.

No one needs to remind another person about the most hated comparison of marks and skills. It's a devil that's been haunting children for many generations now. We need to remember that marks don't necessarily reflect knowledge levels always. People might argue that they boost a spirit of competition among kids but let truth be spoken on how much all of us hated it when our marks were compared to those of others and how that comparison even bullied and bruised our self confidence. Parents can encourage their kids by reflecting on their kids performances. For example, if a kid scores 65% of marks in some exams, the parents can tell their kids that if they can score 65%, they have the abilities and can push themselves a little more to reach 70%. Parents have to set reasonable, achievable targets based on their kids abilities and not based on someone else's abilities.

It's not just about the academics. Performances in sports or extra curricular activities should be encouraged based on the skills and the interests of the young buds. Let's not force the future Sachin Tendulkar to dance to the tunes of Rihanna or force the future Shreya Ghoshal to smash the badminton shuttlecock. Like they say, let's not compare apples to oranges and oranges to grapes. Everyone is uniquely awesome in their own way. Let's identify and groom them in the right path when they are young and roaring to go.

Childhood is a defining phase of kids which will either make or break them. We all talk about letting the kid in the adults stay alive. Let the kid in the kids bloom naturally to make the world a beautiful place. Let them eat, play, pray, learn and grow at their own pace. They come with the wings of imagination painted with the colours of life. Let's not tie their wings with the burdening chains of comparison and bullying.

Let them fly without the chains!