Rethinking Parental Roles

Rethinking Parental Roles D uring a trip to California in the USA, I met a senior Indian immigrant and our conversation turned to the subject of education. I remarked that we were living in the age of knowledge and that the greatest need of the present generation was to educate themselves to the highest standard. But my interlocutor responded with disappointment. His attempts to introduce young people to higher learning, he said, had largely failed. “What we need now,” he concluded, “is not more education, but a re-conditioning of minds.” I replied that much of the responsibility lay with parents. Parents have only two choices: either accept whatever their children become, or learn to understand their children and address their minds in a way that clarifies expectations and values. This challenge is visible in every society. Parents frequently complain about their children, yet the real issue is their inability to understand the mindset of the younger generation. A change in children’s thinking is certainly possible, but only if parents first cultivate the intellectual ability to speak meaningfully to their educated children. The reality is that most parents in our society are traditionally minded, while they seek to place their children in modern, progressive educational environments. This mismatch requires an approach that blends traditional wisdom with contemporary realities. Instead of rigidly holding on to their inherited thinking, parents must reinterpret it in ways that resonate with the new generation. Failure to do so creates the very resistance parents complain about—children rejecting guidance, rebelling against expectations, and showing disinterest in meaningful education. Thus, shortcomings in the sphere of education often stem from the parents themselves. The problem is not merely one of children WHAT PARENTS FACE TODAY Effective teaching cannot be delivered through a rigid language of commands—“do this” and “don’t do that.” Today’s children do not respond to authoritarian instruction. What they need is thoughtful, reasoned guidance rooted in empathy and wisdom.