Mothering - Changes and Challenges
Mothering – Changes & Challenges:
A woman becomes a mother not
after the child is born..but the moment she comes to know that she is carrying
her little one in her womb. Mothers have
always been given a very special place, for what they do, is simply marvelous
and there is no substitute.
Mothering in itself has undergone
lots of changes over years. In olden
days, the role of the mother, was
primarily to take good care of her child, nurture and guide them. But today, the environment in which she needs
to handle them has greatly changed, due to child’s wide exposure and hence
challenging.
In earlier years, predominantly,
the child grew up in joint families.
Most of the child’s development happened through what he observed /
experienced. He observed the behavior of
the elders in the house and absorbed them, which eventually became his
nature. Starting from the way the elders
talk, respect, mannerisms, customs, rituals, moral values, loving, giving and
sharing, caring for siblings…everything happened naturally through real-life
examples. Basic things like respect,
cleanliness, honesty, God-belief, sharing, helping, etc, were never in the
agenda of a mother to sit and teach the
kids.
Today, the situation is different. We are heading towards nuclear to nano
family. The child hardly has anyone to
observe within the house, except the mother.
The mother is his ‘All-in-all’ encyclopedia. Even the basic traits need to be taught. Children
learn the best and fastest from what they observe. Whatever mothers teach them
verbally have lesser impact and hence more efforts are needed on the mother’s
part to inculcate even the basic values in the child.
The external environment of the
child plays a much bigger role in the child’s life than ever before. Earlier, apart from school and playing, most
of the time of the child was within the house under parents’ observation. There were little diversions. The mother just had to keep a watch on his
friends circle and his habits.
Today, with the busy schedule of
children, their academics plus the extras, the child hardly gets to be at home
for daily chores. While pushing the children to excel in everything, some mothers tend to
miss out on watching the child’s environment, his behavioural and attitudinal changes and his character,
till they get a shocker. These become critical responsibilities of the
modern day mother to ensure that the child’s character is intact.
Other changes & challenges
include ensuring emotional equanimity in the child to face competition, peer
pressure, safe and right use of technology, etc.
To conclude, the biggest change in mothering has been with respect to the limited
in-house and the extensive external environment that the child is exposed to
and managing the same to ensure the good upbringing of the child is the most challenging
part of mothering. However, every child is unique and only a mother knows
and understands her child and she is the best person to decide the right way to
groom her kid.
Comments
Post a Comment