Friday 6 January 2017

Childhood Lost in The Digital World

⁠⁠⁠From food to photos, music to video games; childhood today is almost unrecognizable compared to just 20 years ago. When I look back and think what I did when I was 6 years old, I don’t recollect doing anything that was even close to what kids are doing today. Well, what I did while growing up was a real life.😊

Couple of days ago, I saw my nephew feeling blessed when his mom asked him to stay home and do whatever he wants to do. I was surprised to see him happy. I remember my mom setting up rules for me and my sister, which was actually an universal rule to play outside: “Come back home when the street lights are ON”. Being forced to play indoors was a punishment. Like for a real punishment. Being grounded means you aren’t allowed to go outside and it was a torture. That made me think what has changed in these 20 years. And the answer is our lifestyle.

When I compare the house and locality I grew up in to today’s way of living, there is a huge difference. There were parks, gardens and open areas where we could play and socialize with everyone. But today with cities growing so rapidly, you just see concrete forest everywhere. There are any playgrounds, gardens or even a lawn in front of or near our homes. It is sad that there are only skyscrapers everywhere.This has also been one of the major reason why kids these days prefer staying indoors and  playing video games, watch television or chat with their friends on their cellphones.

A thinking capacity of a child is based on the capacity to reflect, reason and draw conclusion based on his experience, knowledge and insight. Unless the child gets an exposure to all aspects of the real life, he would always live in an illusion where everything is digitally operated and each one of us are dependent on Google. You might Google it and find out how a Mango grows, but the fun you experience by planting your own Mango tree, see it grow and wait for the fruit to come is completely different and an experience worth living. I am sure each one of us in our summer vacations would had planted a Mango seed, watered it religiously and waited for the plant to sprout out. 😊

But today, it is practically not possible because with the growing cost of living and our busy schedules, no one has time and energy to teach our kids any of this. That is why, we see community farming is trending a lot these days. What else would we need if we can grow our own food? How beautiful would it look if we had our own beautiful farm in the backyard of our homes and everything we eat is cultivated by us and our family. I would feel blessed!

These days money isn’t an issue. Though everyone can afford to buy a farm but no one actually has time to invest in maintaining the farm. But instead if 10 of them have invested in a big farming land and are developing the land together as a community, the task becomes very easy. The benefit of this is we have someone who is taking care of our property when we are away and at the same time, we are teaching our kids how to enjoy nature.

How about gifting your kid Goodness of  Nature as hobby where he can grow his own food and would preserve as beautiful lifetime memory, instead of, those Tech gadgets which will make your child stay indoors all the time?

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