I sat for long gazing at the day care center just below my office. It is specifically designed for employees who work in the SEZ.
I saw a boy who would be not more than three years fondly play with his toys. He wore neon pink shoes and pristine white dress . He was playing to his hearts content when suddenly a funny bell rang. I looked at my watch . It was 4 pm.
One of the house keeping staffs opened the door of the centre and parents rushed to fetch their respective children. It seemed picture perfect when the children were fondly rushing to their respective parents and were being showered with kisses and hugs.Suddenly the boy in white shirt whined . His dad who had him in his arms realized that the cap of the pen in his pocket had hurt the boy and hence the child was whining. The dad immediately took the pen out of his pocket and chidingly spanked the pen much to the delight of the boy who now felt elated and smiled. It was a mere act of showing " see dad is here and the object that hurt you in turn has been hurt ".
I was busy noticing more emotional outpour between parents and their children as each one was being fetched by their respective parents.When all the kids had left ,one kid was still busy scribbling and playing. She wasnt wearing any expensive clothes and it seemed odd to me that she still wasnt being fetched by her parents. After a while bored of her scribbles she started crawling around. I saw her approach a plastic cactus plant which had painted spikes on it.
She admired the plant for a while and then tried to lift the plant with all her strength. There was a house keeping staff nearby, engrossed in arranging toys that the kids would play with the following day .
As I got upto leave I saw the girl lift the plant and fall down while doing so. Thud!
It wasnt a scary fall and the staff nearby turned around and on noticing that the kid hadnt hurt herself carried on with the arranging. Another staff rushed to the kid in order to comfort the girl when she was rudely stopped by the other who said "Let her learn to fall and get up by herself. Its best she isn't pampered like the others and becomes vulnerable."
I was taken aback by the rude comments.
Sometime later enquired to the receptionist about the kid .She said " oh the kid is shyamala and is daughter of one of our staff !"
Whats beautiful is the way you have painted emotions in words MK. But on the treatment meted out to the child, i am not sure if it was perfect handling! Thr are two extremes both are not advisable. Thr is something in the middle that needs to be subscribed to imho! Lift the baby and show her ppl care for her, but do not beat/condemn the cause of her fall which might give her a false hope (like beating the pen). It tells the kid, what will hurt, will hurt, YOU have to be acting accordingly :)
ReplyDeleteVery well writ though :) Keep it coming!
Sure.. will keep posting.. the carrot or stick theory isn't the question here.. Its based on more of how a soft child faces the world VS a child brought up with lot of deprivatives. And sure the topic is highly debatable and thanks for stopping by SR :)
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