What runs on the mind of the young?

Published on July 27, 2004 By Confusing Musings In Current Events

I remember this cousin of mine. When he was some six-seven years old, I noticed if he was denied anything, he used to bring havoc on the surroundings. Crying, yelling, hitting( even his mother), rolling on the floor - everything. One way or the other, her mother had to yield to his demands. When his mother would be advised against spoiling her child this way, she used to take a grudge on the advisor itself. Whenever the demand was beyond the scope of his mother, he would try to snatch or destroy the object of his desire. He had simply chewed away many of my toys which I had refused to give him.

Twenty Years later the child has grown into a monster - 6 ft 3 and 90 KG . He is a big bully in the house and outside it. He still believes in snatching or destroying things, if denied. He falls just short of the official definition of Criminal.

What beckoned me to write this post is the this incident which took place yesterday in Delhi. A young boy, all 21 years old stabbed a 15 year old girl he loved. Two months back , another jilted lover had burnt alive a girl inside a class room, in Hyderabad. It reminded me of an incident that took place in Mumbai some 20 years back. Another similar incident occurred in Sangli 5 years back when a girl was stabbed in full public view. Hundreds of incidents of jilted, denied lovers throwing acid on girls keep occurring all over India.

This sick mind develops at a very early age -mostly because of parents. They treat their child's activity as the joy to behold. Their love for the child is too overwhelming to realize the setting of the rot. Whoever said love is blind couldn't be more accurate. The well wishers are despised. By the time they realize, it's already too late to stem it. As a result, we have this new breed of brats -spoilt by the parents, unleashed over the whole society.

The time is ripe that the parents take lesson from these incidents. Hapless victims are being punished for the faults committed by someone else . Either don't bring a child on this world, but if bring one may - don't make it a liability or threat on innocent others.

Comments

Manish Manke

on Jul 27, 2004

Actually the fault lies with parents ( I am speaking as a parent). Children when they are young , try to imitate elders , they think if elders can do it why cant they without realising the risks. When denied something they start throwing tantrums and parents trying to curb this succumb to their whims and this in turn becomes a vicious circle.

Infact ,I remember reading many years ago that when Tiannamen massacre took place in China,( I am not justifying it) the root cause was China having switched to single child family in mid -seventies. When these single children grew up they got what they wanted from their parents. When they grew up they thought that they can have their way with the govt. also

Confusing Musings

on Jul 27, 2004

Yes Manish. That exactly is the point. The parents themselves are responsible to take their children till tantrum stage. And when these tantrum become unbearable, they usually succumb to them.

The one about 'Tiannamen' stuff is interesting. I do think its the result of someone's fertile imagination

abhaga

on Jul 27, 2004

I am sorry to be rude but whoever cooked up that "Tiannamen Square" logic, is a sick head. And if fulfilling a childs whims makes him into a freedom fighter, I think it is worth it.

Confusing Musings

on Jul 27, 2004

Probably he was selling his article the way most journos do . Probably sponsored by the communists.

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