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Are
We Losing Our Values?
Contributed by Lekha Krishnakumar
It was the month of August; autumn
was just setting in. One fine morning when I was going out, I saw a two-year-old child sobbing in front of her house. Apparently her mother was going out
to work and her maid was trying to get her inside the house. She was refusing
to budge. A few weeks later I saw the same child sitting in a park with
the maid. There was a morose look in her eyes and she avoided playing with
children of her own age. I started wondering...
In today's world with nuclear family
system and women becoming highly career oriented, are we losing our traditional
values?
Till a few decades ago women used
to be homemakers; whereas, men used to be the breadwinners of the family.
The upbringing of children used to be the responsibility of the mother.
And in a joint family setup it was the collective responsibility of the
grand parents and other relatives staying together. The child learnt its
first lessons at home.
Today's urban woman is highly educated,
career oriented and has very little time for her progeny. With the increase
in nuclear family setup, the child finds itself being brought up by maids.
They overlook the needs of the child and cover up their guilt conscience
of neglecting the child by pampering him with gifts and chocolates. They
are neither able to do justice to the organization they are working for,
nor are they able to care enough for their children. Maintaining of a perfect
balance between home and work is hardly possible. Increasingly, employers
think twice before recruiting a woman in a responsible job.
This results in the child growing
up without learning its first lessons on traditions and human values from
home. What can a servant teach the poor child? The child is prone to accidents
& illness due to lack of proper care. There is a stifling of the finer
emotions in the child.
Is today's woman neglecting her duties?
Can she shirk responsibilities for dissolution of traditional and cultural
values? It is true, the father has an equal role to play in the development
of a child. But the role of the mother in bringing-up the child cannot
be over-stated.
What can be done
to preserve our heritage?
Can making women go back to their
traditional role of homemakers solve the problem? No.
Women are highly intelligent and
educated. Their talent should not be restricted merely to domestic chores.
They should be given equal opportunities with men in today's dynamic world.
But, how does one strike
a balance? Leaving the child to
the care of servants is definitely not a solution.
The employers have to come up with
some innovative ideas to solve this tricky issue.
Some feasible
solutions can be:
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Self-employment is a great solution
for professionally qualified women. This provides flexibility of location
and time.
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Provision of day care centers at the
office premises is one of the best solutions for mothers with small children.
As doctors everywhere recommend breast-feeding for infants up to one year
of age, this could be a very good idea.
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Flexi timings can also be a great solution
for mothers with young and teenage kids.
For how long can this problem exist
without a proper solution? I implore the women of today to teach
their children proper human, cultural and traditional values.
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