Parenting

When we were growing up, our parents considered it their responsbility to feed us, clothe us and educate us. Period. My friend jokes that when her father(father of 3) was asked which grade his kids were in, he always used to give a range - 3rd or 4th grade- 7th or 8th grade.

Today Parenting seems a lot more onerous . Or have we made it that way ? Starting with the process of choosing a really unique name :) Regular Meenakshis and Kamakshis won't do -My mom complains that she is unable to remember anybody's child's name these days and my father in law kept calling my son "Krishnamoorthy" for a few days because he could not remember what we had named him. Then we move on to finding the best system to educate one's child in preschool - Montessori or Goddard and then we progress to decide amongst CBSE/ICSE/IB/IGCSE . Our parents were good with - 'Hey, this school is the closest to our home - here you go'. Then there is the slew of extra curricular activities- Karate or Taekwondo, Bharatnatyam or Ballet, Piano or violin, Drawing or Pottery, Tennis or Cricket, Abacus or Kumon. Hmm... my son seems to be showing some talent for cricket... IPL possibilities ? My daughter is good at piano.. maybe I should put her in AR Rahman's academy ?

Ofcourse every parent is proud of his or her methodology- "I am very proud that I don't try to schedule my kids at all - they do what they like to do" says one . " I believe in giving my kids exposure to multiple things so that they can figure out what they are interested in"says another. There is a wide range.

So what is it that makes 'most of ' today's parents so intensely passionate about their children? About researching every cough/sniffle on Webmd -about researching every school , sport, hobby... what is it that makes us way more involved/insane? Is it because today most of us have one or two kids - People who have 3 have become an abberation in India's metros :) So we have a lot more bandwidth ? Gadgets, cooks , maids , more dispensable income, have made our lives infinitely easier, so the project on hand , our kids, are getting a lot of attention?.Somebody once said that kids have become the honour badges that parents today seek to wear :)

Are we working extra hard to make sure that our unrealized childhood dreams have a second chance? Or are we giving our children, the gift of a fantastic childhood replete with endless possibilities and countless dreams?