Recently a Korean couple was so addicted to a computer game that they had forgotten their real baby who died from starvation…The irony is that the theme of the game was about ‘parenting’.
So it begs the question, ‘did the simulated content fail?’
Simulation in itself is not the solution – behavioural change must be anchored by values. Values must be anchored by childhood and family experiences.
Watching a Mom at a bus stop all too absorbed with her own struggles, lost in her world, and her over-weight son chewing on a big chunk of what looks like ‘ham from the can’ made me wonder what values will her child grow up with.
Too many ‘parents’ [Gen Y and younger] are too absorbed in their own goals. Even what they do for their children is part of that goal [‘I do this for you so that you can have a better life than I did growing up’].
If it is at all possible to make an apple to apple comparison, I ponder about a child who is given all the right attention that builds him up, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and lacking the intellectual bit. Compare him to another child who is given everything intellectual in stimulation but lacks the parental love, presence, affirmation and so poor in emotional and psychological / spiritual feeding. And, some years down the road, the one without the intellectual stimulation would be confident and would have the strength to face hardship [b’cos of his parent’s investment to his total being] – he would excel whenever the opportunity avail itself.
The other kid, several years down the road, would have the intellectual capacity to take on great lead roles in the corporate / education world. But when hardship strikes, this person could only resort to play politics, and ‘kill or be killed’ tactics.
I am not too sure but I would think the above 2 scenarios are mutually exclusive ie few would have both scenarios.
If i could influence any parents, I would say err on the side of healthy love. The world needs more people who are confident, loving and considerate individuals….
What do you think? The child who still sits on a pram / stroller at age 4 – what kind of effect would that be on his future? At what age should a child be off the stroller? Is there a co-relationship between the age of leaving that cushiony, sheltered, parent dependent stroller and the future mindset of that child?
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