Yesterday I was talking to a kid, some 7 to 8 years old, who lives next door. I was amazed to see the kind of exposure young kids are getting these days via the internet or the television.

And it is not always that they get exposed to ethical or good things in life. More often than not, courtesy the kind of tv soaps and programmes being telecasted, they end up getting exposed to the unethical and bad part, which they learn thereafter.

The credit for them learning the same goes to their parents and teachers who demonstrate the same that their children see on tv in their real lives by treading on the path wherein the parents would go to any extent to have and maintain a lavish lifestyle.

In such a situation, how can we expect the youngsters to learn a moral way of life, when they are being made to learn that one can only lead a happy and satisfied life if he or she thinks just about himself or herself without really being concerned about the others in the society and without being concerned about what is right and what is wrong.

As one can already notice that the next generation is more street smart then the previous one and the parents take great pride in the fact that their child is becoming what can be called a chalta purja who is capable enough to take on the world with his/her intellect and smartness and is able to emerge out successful and rich, irrespective of the means being employed for the same.

With such unethical and immoral encouragement given by their parents to boost their egos, they end up becoming irresponsible citizens of our nation, which has immense and drastic consequences when it comes to the well being of our society.

A multi-pronged approach is the need of the hour to stop this degradation that is taking place in our society. The parents should try to ensure that their child is exposed to ethical things in life and this should be reinforced by their own actions.

The schools should ensure that the children are made to learn and rehearse the virtues of life with special recognition given to those who end up doing so.

My parents tell me that when they were young, with the kind of joint family system that was prevalent in those days, morals and virtues were passed on to them from their grandparents who would ask them to sit down and would narrate all the stories with a thing or two to learn at the completion of the story.

WIth the joint family system taking a beating in the present scenario and the parents not having the time and energy to devote towards their children, it becomes even more probable for a child to get influenced more by the things he or she is being exposed to in terms of tv or internet.

With no one at disposal to offer him or her a correct interpretation and explanation, the child has no choice but to accept what he or she sees or witnesses and thereby starts seeking immediate gratification. As a result it leads to the formation of a poor cognitive framework in the mind of the child which tends to get reinforced by the kind of things happening in the real world and an attitude which can be described as impulsive and self-centred.

The child might even astray from the normal and might end up commiting things in life which a parent would certainly not be proud of.

So, all parents of my generation out there, what are you waiting for? You need to start behaving like a parent and make sure that your child is not left alone in this world which is so full of vices, until they are big enough to be able to differentiate between what’s right and what’s wrong.

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