My 5-year-old is invited to a birthday party organized at a spa and massage parlour for kids. I am astounded to know the transition from ‘baby products’ to ‘beauty products’ can be so quick. The girls are excited; they will be treated with manicure, pedicure, make-up and hair styling. Until now, manicure just meant trimming scraggly nails with her band saw teeth. But after the invitation, she knows there is a paid service available for it. And make-up! It means messing up with mommy’s dressing table. But post invitation, my darling daughter is allured by the prospects offered by the ‘little Lolita’ architects. Birthday parties have always tortured me and this bazillion gazillion parties with weird themes will surely drag me under the ‘expenditure
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“Children want to imitate Anna and Alyssa from frozen”, says a Tiara birthday party organizer. But aren’t we brought up on a diet of stories revolving around Cinderella and Snow white? The story of ‘Princesses’ surfaces the moral and righteous virtues. But we are busy focusing on imitating the costumes and not the character. Princesses don’t pout and pose for selfies, they are known for perseverance, endurance, generosity and astuteness. And these money-making machines which are worse than the toxic plastic suppliers from China are not going to teach this to our children. It’s …show more content…
Bhooshan Shukla cautions that parents must be aware of consequences of such actions that are termed ‘just for fun’. It is not surprising when a 14-year-old tries to be attractive and think about herself as a merchandise. Parents are substituting money for love. ‘I don’t have time, but I have a tab’, ‘I can’t play with you in the park, but I can buy an expensive toy that you will be busy fondling for a week’. ‘I won’t be there on your birthday, but I can throw you a lavish party’, ‘I can buy you a fancy bike, but I lack time to teach you how to ride it, ‘and because I lack parenting skills, I will surrogate my presence with all the products and services that are sold under the tag ‘for kids’ for you.’
Is an affluent society insidious to childhood? I don’t want to be responsible for conditioning them to wait for grand gestures to believe they are loved. Kids don’t need streamers, themes, beauty products and luxurious treatment. Childhood is dirtying in sand and mud, bruising your knees and elbows and basking in the creamy-chocolaty
“Children want to imitate Anna and Alyssa from frozen”, says a Tiara birthday party organizer. But aren’t we brought up on a diet of stories revolving around Cinderella and Snow white? The story of ‘Princesses’ surfaces the moral and righteous virtues. But we are busy focusing on imitating the costumes and not the character. Princesses don’t pout and pose for selfies, they are known for perseverance, endurance, generosity and astuteness. And these money-making machines which are worse than the toxic plastic suppliers from China are not going to teach this to our children. It’s …show more content…
Bhooshan Shukla cautions that parents must be aware of consequences of such actions that are termed ‘just for fun’. It is not surprising when a 14-year-old tries to be attractive and think about herself as a merchandise. Parents are substituting money for love. ‘I don’t have time, but I have a tab’, ‘I can’t play with you in the park, but I can buy an expensive toy that you will be busy fondling for a week’. ‘I won’t be there on your birthday, but I can throw you a lavish party’, ‘I can buy you a fancy bike, but I lack time to teach you how to ride it, ‘and because I lack parenting skills, I will surrogate my presence with all the products and services that are sold under the tag ‘for kids’ for you.’
Is an affluent society insidious to childhood? I don’t want to be responsible for conditioning them to wait for grand gestures to believe they are loved. Kids don’t need streamers, themes, beauty products and luxurious treatment. Childhood is dirtying in sand and mud, bruising your knees and elbows and basking in the creamy-chocolaty