My cousin has a son. He is three years old, give or take a month. He is a sweet kid. A little hyper but children these days are like that. Must be the sugar. I was sixteen before I ever stayed up till 10. A rare occurrence that happens on the eve of exams. Otherwise I was an early to bed, early to rise kind of child. Anyway, this three year old nephew of mine couldn't be made to sleep before 11. Typically, it involves my cousin asking, cajoling, pleading, begging and then shouting, yelling and finally making it up with a bedtime story. The bedtime story she told her son (did I tell you he is three) was this:
The rendition ofcourse, was interspersed by threats of the policeman coming to pick up kids who refused to sleep. I swear to you I am not making this up.
What does this tale tell us? What moral lessons does the kid learn from it apart from one has to park their motorbikes in the allotted area? Perhaps, we learn that we must change our plates when we move states. (And we wonder why people are prejudiced!!??)
Granted that not every bedtime story has to have a moral or something. But what happened to the good old Snow White and the seven dwarves? Or the Tortoise and Hare or the Crow and the clever fox?
The real question however is... what are we doing to our children?
You know what happened today? There were several motorbikes parked outside my office. And you know there are lines within which one must park their vehicle. But today, many bikes were parked haphazardly. And then the police came. They came with a big tow truck. And they towed
away all the bikes that weren't parked properly. One of my friends' bike was towed too. And the policeman said that he had to come to the station to pick it up. So everyone whose bikes were towed away went to the police station.
At the police station, the big policeman asked these people for their licence and Registration papers. He asked all TamilNadu registered vehicle owners to wait a little longer. And you know the friend I was telling you about, his vehicle had a TN plate. So he was made to wait and then the policeman made him show his hands and bet him with a big stick. He made him say that he would park properly henceforth. And he bet him again. It was painful and my friend started to cry. The policeman bet him till his hands bled. Only then did he let him take the bike home. So, will you park your bike properly?
The rendition ofcourse, was interspersed by threats of the policeman coming to pick up kids who refused to sleep. I swear to you I am not making this up.
What does this tale tell us? What moral lessons does the kid learn from it apart from one has to park their motorbikes in the allotted area? Perhaps, we learn that we must change our plates when we move states. (And we wonder why people are prejudiced!!??)
Granted that not every bedtime story has to have a moral or something. But what happened to the good old Snow White and the seven dwarves? Or the Tortoise and Hare or the Crow and the clever fox?
The real question however is... what are we doing to our children?
2 comments:
*sigh*
i really don't know what to say.
OK seriously! I thought u were making it all up!
but then todays kids i think are not satisfied with the Cindy's and the fairies of our times! They want the terminators and the transformers.. and the story your cousin told as way better... at least they will remember to park properly :)
I guess... kids as they are ..[ not very kiddish I tel you] are not the same as the kinds we used to be!
where was bed time stories? OMG! no time.. go to sleep.. and well yah sleep! thats it!
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