Yet another day in the train – I rushed up to station and got the train that goes to my work place. I got seated and was breathing heavily as I had rushed up then. Near me, I saw a small little girl neatly groomed in her uniform. I believe she was traveling to her school. She might be around ten years old. She was traveling with her mom. She was telling her mom some interesting stories and talking to her sweetly. Every now and then her mom was telling her, “Don’t keep laughing. Behave well”. I was wondering as to what her mom meant by behaving well. To me the kid appeared to be very sweet and enjoying her childhood as any child would love to. She asked for a chocolate and her mom gave her one. She ate the chocolate and took the chocolate wrapper in her hand. Her mom said, “Throw that down. Why are you having it in your hand?” The child replied, “Mom, my teacher has told us that we should throw waste papers only in the dustbins and not anywhere else”. I was very happy that some teacher had really instilled the spirit of cleanliness in this child. But I never knew this happiness would be short-lived. Immediately I was taken aback her mom’s words, “You don’t have sense or your teacher does. How long could we hold this wrapper? Don’t irritate me”. Saying this she pulled the wrapper from the child’s hand and threw it inside the train. I was so shocked seeing this. The child kept telling, “No, we should not do this. My teacher has told that it is not good to pollute the environment and it is harmful for everyone”. But her words faded away amidst the shouting of her mom and the chuk- chuk sound by the train. It was not just the voice of the child that got faded away, it was also the lifetime value the child had acquired from the words of her teacher.
I was wondering if only the mom could have used her influence for goodness how great the child would grow. But do we realize our power as a parent or do we exercise our power to show superiority over the little ones? Is this just yet another way to say that I know better than you to our children?
Do we realize the power of our words as a parent?
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