Kids these days! Yes, that is no more than an idiom, but when it comes to the 21st century, kids are not just kids anymore. My 2-year old nephew plays ‘Angry Birds’ a 100 times better than me. Of course, as adults, we beat ourselves up every single day to get to survive the harsh reality of life, but it is an acceptable fact that that the children of the 21st century are more advanced than us 20th century kids.
Buddy parenting is not a very difficult term to understand, and in fact the word itself makes it clear. It is a form of parenting where the parent acts as a friend with the child, and at the same times puts in some advice or values inside the mind of the child. For that, the parents need to have some values first, but that is a different story altogether.
I read this post on Facebook a few days back and it really moved me. I do not remember who wrote it or whether it was shared on a website, but the content was so touching that it was quite hard to forget. The conversation was between a small child and his father (who was practicing buddy parenting).
After a normal day of school, 8-year-old Hari (name changed) came home, had his refreshment, and was getting ready to play. While doing so, his dad came from work. Dad asked Hari how his day was at school. When he heard Hari’s reply, he was shocked.
“We are all planning to beat Abdul (name changed) tomorrow. He is a Muslim and he is our enemy. No one wants to be his friend.”
The dad asked “why?” and Hari’s reply was prompt. He said that the Mughals invaded India and hence all the children in the class came to the conclusion that Abdul, being a Muslim was their enemy. Dad was quick to react. He asked Hari to sit next to him.
“My son, do you know that many Muslims fought for our Independence? They were also part of Netaji’s army. Even the Britishers invaded India, but that doesn’t mean that they are our enemies.”
After a few seconds, Hari nodded his head. “Ok dad, he said. I am going out to play now. Bye”. His dad was confused, so he stopped Hari again.
“You can go to play, but what are you going to do tomorrow? Still going to beat Abdul?”
“No dad”, Hari replied with an innocent smile. “I planned to make friends with him.”
“That’s great. But Hari, if you make friends with Abdul,you will lose your other friends. At are you going to do.” Hari’s dad never expected this reply to pop up. After a few seconds, Hari smiled and spoke very confidently.
“I was not born with any friends, dad. If I make friends with Abdul, it will help him because he has no friends at all. If my other friends do not like me, they will still be friends with others. It is OK, dad. I guess I can choose my friends.”
Now that, my dear friends, is ‘Buddy Parenting’. Indian version = ‘Khushi ke Pal”. Hence proved.
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