Are we doing something to our kids that we don’t want others to do to us?

A sunny day and it was a Sunday. My nephew, 7 years old had come home to enjoy his holiday. He is very hyper, active and was playing around as usual. He was playing online games. There came his mother and told “Hey come here. I have asked you not to play online games for more than half an hour. Come”. My nephew did not respond and continued playing. His mom shouted, “I have told you to stop this. Come out”. Saying this she slapped the kid. The kid with tears and a loud cry came running out of the room. He sat near the staircase and kept crying. His mom went ahead with her domestic chores. There came the child’s uncle. He went near the child and the child was waiting to seek his love. He hugged him and said, “See. Mom bet me” and cried loudly. The uncle with all his good intentions said, “See. You should not cry. Mom is always right. Come on. Wipe your tears and smile. Smile, I say”. Telling this he wiped the tears of the child and asked him to smile for which the kid responded with great difficulty. The uncle moved away with the satisfaction that he had attended to the kid’s call.


I was watching all this. I was puzzled again with the question, “Are we catering to the child’s needs?” or “Are we at least aware of what the child needs?”



I was just wondering what if the same thing happens to us, when we are sad and someone walks to us, wipes our tears and asks us to smile without even acknowledging our emotions. How would we respond?


Are we doing something to our kids that we don’t want others to do to us?