Saturday, June 14, 2008
the average parent is a pain in the ass. they want to know about airconditioners and fees and how many kids there are in the class. the part about changing the ratta system, helping kids to be creative and be individual and knowing their mind is brushed aside casually before asking whether we're going to do the kids' holiday homework with them. no, we aren't going to do another school's homework for your kid. we are not a tuition centre. tuition centres don't have baby yoga and mandarin classes and they don't have a black belt doing karate and they don't have an ajoka actress doing theatre and they don't have arooj aftab singing with them and they don't have me doing story-time either.the average parent is the kind who will fire questions at you, listen to none of the answers and when you call them back, tell you they're only interested in having their kid WORK over the summer. or sleep in because eight is MUCH too early (if your five year old is going to bed at one a.m, then yeah, it is).
welcome to stellar, the bunch of aliens who think that kids should be allowed to be kids, who have a crate of hico apple and orange ice lollies and country pine cool boxes ready for your children, who believe that life should be about being happy and creative and original and climbing trees, and that in the process you will get good grades and you will go to college. and you could also be an asset to society too, someone who is thoughtful and intelligent and compassionate, who can speak punjabi and urdu and english and spanish and mandarin, who is proud of who they are and where they come from. how is that something a parent wouldn't want for their child?
so at the end of the day, the airconditioner is more important than the art and music and scouting and creative writing classes. bravo. the good news is that despite all this we've still got a good number of kids, but god you'd think there would be more progressive, intelligent, creative parents out in the world. the irony is that there are people like that, but very few parents. it's good to take your kid seriously i suppose, but i think we take it a bit too far and the priorities we assign to them are very skewed. blaaar. i will get back to you on all this judgement after i have a baby myself. but chahey jo bhi ho it sure as hell isn't going to school before five, will be playing in mud and drinking from the lilypond and reading books and eating aam and playing with the dog and wearing malmal kurta pyjamas like a proper little one should.
Mina at 12:57 PM
