Let's give more space to our children
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 26 2011 -

Most of us cherish our childhood, the days of fun and frolic, days of innocence, of carefree days filled with laughter.

Those were the days when we knew little about prejudice or bias, when we were true to our feelings, when we had spontaneity, lived in the here and now, when our laughter was unalloyed with pretence and our anger was not predicated upon a desired effect.

In a child lies embedded the seeds of a future society. How the seed grows and takes shape depends on how it is nurtured by the society.

Will its growth be stunted, will it wither away before its prime, or will it grow into something like a majestic mango tree which will bear fruit and shelter fellow beings in its shades protecting them from the harsh sunlight or a raging storm.

In what kind of environment are our children growing up? It is an environment which is the least conducive to bringing up a child. Apart from the general tension of growing up in a conflict zone, many a child has become a direct victim of this conflict, some have become orphans and yet others faced the physical and metal trauma at close quarters scaring their psyche for life.

They have also been direct victims of many crimes, many have been kidnapped for ransom and some even killed, many have been trafficked to far off corner of the country, etc.

But even for those children fortunate enough to escape the direct consequences of the conflict situation and from the criminality of fringe element of our society, the condition of growing up is far from conducive.

Children need space both literally and otherwise to grow into healthy well adjusted individuals. Big open fields and playgrounds where they can smell and breathe in the fresh invigorating air, look up the open sky and admire the various shapes in the cloud above, where they can run, jump and play games to their hearts' content.

But these fields and playgrounds have disappeared (specially in urban areas), as do the courtyards. Children growing up especially in Imphal area are increasingly held hostage in concrete jungles.

They have no place to give vent to their nervous energy, no place to exercise their growing limbs. This is a deprivation which will affect their growth both physically and mentally.

We must provide open spaces for our children in every locality as was available in our growing up years.

Nowadays, with the pressure on residential areas, every little space available in a locality is used up to construct a community hall or club buildings. Though these structures are useful for holding social functions, the fact remains that we have deprived our children of whatever little breathing space they had.

Another Constriction which we have forced on our children to endure is in the realm of their mental space. From very early childhood, we are cramping their tiny little brain with so much, the nursery rhymes, the multiplication tables, the class works.

Back at home, it is home work and some parents even engage private tutors for their tiny tots. The work load increasing exponentially as they get on in age. The dos and don'ts, the discipline, the pressure to conform, all of which places tremendous pressure on the poor child that overtime he or she loses all spontaneity and creativity.

Over this, the pressure to succeed at any cost, the need to take the straight and narrow path required for success distorting their personality. Many of them might rebel, many might snap unable to bear the pressure and quite a few might come out unscathed, 'successful'.

Among these few successes, many would mostly likely turn out to be highly self centered individuals, with few concerns in the world save self aggrandizement.

Our society certainly don't need too many of such individuals. What our society needs are rounded individuals, who are aware of their surroundings, who can empathize with fellow members the society.

This will only be possible when we give space to the child allows them free rein to their imagination, to their creativity and spontaneity and not by fitting him in a straitjacket, by ramming senseless information down his throat and lest by indoctrinating him to the religion of 'success'.