N. Raghuraman’s column – Vigilant Indian parents watch their children even with their ears! | एन. रघुरामन का कॉलम: सतर्क भारतीय माता-पिता अपने कानों से भी बच्चों को देखते हैं!

N. Raghuraman, Management Guru

If you are concerned that when your children read certain books, their views get wavered and they get ideologically inclined to one side or the other. Because you know these are ultra-sensitive minds, you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, trusting children’s intelligence, yet you’re not sure how well they’ll process it if things are too concrete. .

You’re the kind of parent who definitely gets worried when the narrative takes a sharp left or right turn. Sometimes you feel, it is too early for them to reach any decision. Therefore, as a parent, it is common to keep an eye on the children’s bookshelf.

If you are also among such parents, then it is absolutely normal, because there are many such parents in our country, who spend many hours on the children’s bookshelf, keeping such books which inculcate positive values, inclusivity and emotional intelligence in them. Encourage them, while removing books with harmful information appropriate for their age.

Not only common people and parents like us but also political candidates contesting elections have vowed to focus on changes in everyday life affecting millions of families. Tom Tugendhat, one of the four leaders in the race to replace Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party in Britain, says the government should not decide at what age children should use social media or smartphones.

When asked when he was planning to get a mobile phone for his 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, he said, “It is for me to decide, as I know there are 16-year-old children too who They are mature enough to use it properly, on the other hand even 50 year olds are not mature in this matter. Former PM Rishi Sunak’s government introduced the Online Safety Act, and the current ruling party is planning to ban smartphones and social media for children under 16.

Apart from this, the truth is that as parents, you and I can drop children to the school gate and collect them from school in the evening, but due to online activity, anyone can enter their bedroom and harm them. Is.

That’s why I felt good when the two-day Foundation Literature Festival that ended this Sunday in Bengaluru saw active participation of people in the discussion on how to protect children from the influence of the content they are exposed to. A British publisher involved in this said, in recent times, children’s literature has also started exploring topics like suicide, depression, death, which were once considered taboo.

As society evolves and children are already exposed to such topics from TV, modern writers are creating gentle, thoughtful stories on these topics that help children understand and process difficult emotions and share real-life experiences. Show the way to overcome the challenges of the world. But the beauty is that Indian parents feel that some words which are used casually during their upbringing in Britain or other developed countries, can make an impact here.

For example, a word used to express one’s feelings casually is acceptable elsewhere, but when kids use it in our country while slamming doors with friends or cousins, it looks rude. So Indian parents not only read children’s books first and manage their libraries, but also ensure that they keep their room doors open so they can hear (and see) the words their children use in conversation.

The bottom line is that Indian parents are not only using their eyes to see what children read and do, but also keeping their ears attuned to how they use the words they read.