Recently during a workshop related to my professional work, i had an interesting discussion on parenting over lunch. A colleague who is raising a baby in Amsterdam shared an interesting view about Dutch style of parenting. He spoke about how parents imbibe the quality of exploring things in their kids by not instructing them to do or not do things all the time. As an example in a restaurant the kids are free to roam around. While parents can sit and enjoy their food, the kids may learn about what's acceptable behavior and what's not from other guests. It's about learning by experience from society. That in my colleague's view fosters the entrepreneurship culture in the minds of kids right from very young age.
I found it very interesting and read a bit more about Dutch style parenting. Learnt about more interesting facts like dutch kids are happiest, Dutch parents don't yell, it's acceptable for kids to show tantrums but not for adults and so on. Very impressive stuff.
My kids are grown up now and participate ( and dictate) in what food gets ordered in restaurants and enjoy it. But when they were younger, it used to be quite a task. They may run around everywhere and I would run behind them. They may spill a hundred things on or below the tables. Worse even they would stare at other guests or their plates!
So just thought of what might happen in India if parents allowed their kids to just roam around freely in restaurant while enjoying food themselves. There are two main hurdles that I see, one being safety of kids in question and second about societal pressure or "Log Kya kahenge!". Not many things are designed keeping safety in mind, and of course child abuse and crime against children in itself is a major deterrent for parents to leave their children out of sight most of the times. I wanted to take a shot at the second part where we as parents really dread about what everyone else will think about us or our kids all the time!
Disclaimer: please note that these thought are purely light hearted and not intended to harm anyone's sentiments.
What kind of mother she is! Eating happily without feeding her kid
Look at the parents! They just don't want to take care of their kids
Can you please take care of your kids? They are troubling us
Look at those kids, so manner less, seems their parents never bothered to teach them manners at home
Today's kids don't know even 'd' of discipline, we never behaved like this
Shhhh! This is not your home, don't make noise
Hey kids, don't go there, there are ghosts behind that door
If you can not take care if your kids, why did you produce them in the first place!
If they did not want to look after their kids, they could have got the babysitter
Look at how these kids are on their own, ours won't leave our lap at all
How can they leave kids on their own just like that!
Looks like the kids have taken the meaning of freedom very seriously
Freedom does not mean "do what you want", it comes with responsibility
Have you ever faced such situation? Would you allow your small kids to roam around freely? How would you react if you find any?
I found it very interesting and read a bit more about Dutch style parenting. Learnt about more interesting facts like dutch kids are happiest, Dutch parents don't yell, it's acceptable for kids to show tantrums but not for adults and so on. Very impressive stuff.
My kids are grown up now and participate ( and dictate) in what food gets ordered in restaurants and enjoy it. But when they were younger, it used to be quite a task. They may run around everywhere and I would run behind them. They may spill a hundred things on or below the tables. Worse even they would stare at other guests or their plates!
So just thought of what might happen in India if parents allowed their kids to just roam around freely in restaurant while enjoying food themselves. There are two main hurdles that I see, one being safety of kids in question and second about societal pressure or "Log Kya kahenge!". Not many things are designed keeping safety in mind, and of course child abuse and crime against children in itself is a major deterrent for parents to leave their children out of sight most of the times. I wanted to take a shot at the second part where we as parents really dread about what everyone else will think about us or our kids all the time!
Disclaimer: please note that these thought are purely light hearted and not intended to harm anyone's sentiments.
What kind of mother she is! Eating happily without feeding her kid
Look at the parents! They just don't want to take care of their kids
Can you please take care of your kids? They are troubling us
Look at those kids, so manner less, seems their parents never bothered to teach them manners at home
Today's kids don't know even 'd' of discipline, we never behaved like this
Shhhh! This is not your home, don't make noise
Hey kids, don't go there, there are ghosts behind that door
If you can not take care if your kids, why did you produce them in the first place!
If they did not want to look after their kids, they could have got the babysitter
Look at how these kids are on their own, ours won't leave our lap at all
How can they leave kids on their own just like that!
Looks like the kids have taken the meaning of freedom very seriously
Freedom does not mean "do what you want", it comes with responsibility
Have you ever faced such situation? Would you allow your small kids to roam around freely? How would you react if you find any?
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