Scenario 1:
The landline rings. Mother picks up the call. The
grandfather on the other side of the call wants to talk to his grandchild.
The 6 year old kid says...I am busy. I will talk to you
later. May be over the ‘weekend’.
Scenario 2:
A 5 year old kid pretends to type on a laptop, has plugged
in ear phones. An mused Father asks the kiddo what are you doing?
Kids response: I am on a conference call. Kindly do not
disturb.
Scenario 3:
An 8 year old kid plays with few trophies & medals. He
is very happy hanging around with those. Finally looks at the Father &
almost speaks in an announcing manner...I don’t think so you will ever get a
medal for being a Best Father & does a thumbs down.
Scenario 4: The
child gives a preface that he was enjoying coffee with his parents at
Starbucks. The scene that gets depicted is as follows. Child busy looking here
& there, kind of liking the coffee. Father on a call. Mother busy coaxing a
child to click a selfie & then posting it on Facebook with a title “Time
well spent with my kid”
Scenario 5: The
child is studying. Mother is on whatsapp & keeps telling the child in
between..sit properly...study well...
And it was followed by many such scenarios. A theatre based
workshop with students of age 5 to 13 years brought out few facts where parents
and teachers several times felt like laughing & crying at the same time.
Few questions that facilitated a discussion with parents:
1.
Are we living a weekend life? How can we improve
it?
2.
How can we wisely & thoughtfully integrate
household chores (that takes a lot of our time on weekends) with kids?
3.
Can we unplug at least social media &
whatsapp over the weekends and also while spending time with kids?
4.
Introspect – Do we walk the talk?
5.
If we don’t log in into the office network over
the weekend, is it so difficult to catch up on Monday?
6.
Is the work really urgent or have you got into a
habit/behaviour to bolster your self-worth with proof of 24/7 availability?
So is it a time for you to take your life back? Your laptop
& smartphone also needs some idle time while you live & enjoy your
life!
