Sunday 24 February 2013

How much is Too Much!


After a terrible spell of winters, towards the end of Jan when we almost concluded this was the end of chill, Rain God yawned back to life and started showing his wi(e)tty presence every now and then, with some relieving sunny days sprinkled in between. This has been a pretty cold February so far, with every second day rains rushing in to give company. The other day, I and my daughter went for a walk after a fresh round of rain, when she made a very thoughtful observation, "Mom, whenever there is a big shift of season, God sends rainy season in between. Like when we go from summer to winter, we have a season for rains. Now we are going from winters to summers, again we have season for rain." My immediate reflex was to correct her that it is not a rainy season, but then I stopped short.  If it was not a rainy season, what would you call such a long spell of rains? It was a very sharp observation on her part and I felt a little trifled. Why didn’t it occur to me? Why because my mind has long accepted that rainy season only comes after summers. Because my mind is now expected to behave on preconditioned lines. Whatever we have learnt, observed, experienced has become our limited frame and we unknowingly refuse to acknowledge things outside that frame. 

Putting this conversation in context, I was wondering, to what extent kids must be tutored and to what extent they should be left to make their own observation and draw their own inferences out of them.

If we keep ‘correcting’ our children and push them to base their knowledge on accepted norms, aren't we goading them into thinking on the same pre-conditioned pattern.  Does too much ‘correction’ suppress their natural urge to explore the world from their own fresh or, at times, naïve point of view? They might see things from a perspective that has remained hidden from our sight. We may laugh off their hypothesis as ‘she doesn’t know yet’. May be what we call a naive attempt at decoding the mystery of world is the revelation we never knew. I would like to hear your opinion on this topic.

These days, my daughter is in a hurry to learn everything about poetry. It amuses me at times that the last lesson she would learn in this regard, shall be that you cannot learn ‘everything’ about poetry…ever! Anyway, here is her definition of haiku, in the form of haiku.

Feeling Expressed
In three lines, guess what
It's a haiku


One more haiku:

Aged woman
Attacked by diseases
Still a mother


Errr, still one more (I told you she is in a hurry)

Variety of colours
Magenta, maroon, mauve
God’s creation


She insists that my blog should publish all her poetic attempts or else she will float her own !



Picture taken from : Google Search


18 comments:

  1. Wow! Mother and daughter, both talented and fabulous writers!! Children are really smart.How intelligently she spoke about the weather condition.I admire her innocent but at the same time instant reaction. 'Nazar na lage'.

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    1. That is sssooooooooooo sssweeeeeettttt! Only a grandma can say this. Thanks a lot for your blessings.

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  2. I love her "threat" :)

    As I already know from her first attempt at poetry that you published earlier, she has inherited your talent for writing, and it extends to Haiku as well!

    As for your question on whether "correcting" kids at every juncture is productive, I was discussing the very same thing today with my sister. There is an optimal level of guidance that is required to make sure one's kids are well-behaved and know right from wrong. Beyond that, there is very little one can or should do to "mould" their child. Smothering is always counter-productive. Always.

    Your post is especially relevant these days when parents are over-invested in their children.

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  3. She made these haiku??????????? Wow !!! Unbelievable ... these are too good. Your daughter's haiku are just so polished and perfect ... loved them !!!

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  4. The first thing that came to my mind after reading this story...

    during the early periods of the autocracy of Catholics...people were inhibited to even think which is beyond their texts and then there was a widespread revolt against it...

    I not some one who should be commenting on parenting...as am still unmarried and in mid 20's but still i believe children today should be left to gain knowledge of their own and that's the best way they can learn...without enforcing them to learn predefined school texts...this has a same relation as that of a cocoon i believe...if it's helped to get out by breaking of the shells it will never survive as it's wings will never be strong enough...again coming back to human tendency...when people are told not to do anything they will attempt them first and suppose...a child is playing near a fire and if you repeatedly speak of not wander near it...he/she won't listen to you...but the moment child gets a bit of the flame he realizes it's dangerous and than they won't require you intervention...they will automatically fly far off from fire...but at the same time ...i don't think they should be left alone to fight in the world they should be given enough guidance,support and motivation to go ahead in life...!!!


    About haiku's... i am still at a learning phase for this...and as per my own senses speaks i would never be tempted to write a haiku...but that doesn't mean i don't like or appreciate a haiku...
    if 9-10 year old child can write a haiku like this i don't think it's such a big issue to allow her to open her own haiku--site...!!!

    loved those haiku...hope to get more of her haiku soon...!!!

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  5. she should definitely have her own blog! She's very talented!

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  6. wow! how old is she? Following ur footsteps :)

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  7. Great Haikus. Tell her to write one about adults with closed mind, Meenakshi.

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  8. We have a fixed mind-set and quite often find it hard to come out of that cage. Nice write.

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  9. kids cannot be wrong. no matter how naive their way of thinking may sound (mostly we exhibit a dismissive attitude and try correcting them with our preconceived notions), those are based on pure observation and often have a strong logic behind them. don't worry, they do explore the world without any classroom guidance these days.

    those Haikus are brilliant!! you better publish her poetry here :)

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  10. Her Haiku are brilliant Meenakshi, simply brilliant!!

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  11. Hmmm. Todays...bacha party is vry smart nd sharap.. .. Gd article last lines.. Is so grt.. That u hav to puclish her haiku..otherwise c creat own.. Blog...!!!.. Nd gd lines by ur dauther

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  12. She is going to be a fine poet just like her mom--how many kids even know what is haiku?
    About raising kids--yes too much of guidance is not warranted because kids today are very smart & well informed.But as you said they do need to be told some basic do's & don'ts.

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  13. haha.. she threatened you... her attempt to get her writings published.. lol

    Hey kid, super duper haikus. loved it as much as i loved your threat.. big hugs to you :-)

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  14. Good for her, she's a natural haiku talent!
    Eliz

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