SOCIETY

Parental pressure putting undue stress on children in cities

     New Delhi: Ambitious modern-day parents in cities are pushing their kids to achieve impossible feats with dangerous results. Fourteen-year-old Biswadeep Bhattacharya's father wanted to see his promising son become a world champion in Table Tennis. He forced his son to to practise without any rest. Gruelling long practice sessions, merciless thrashings for small mistakes or a poor performance was Biswadeep's order of the day. Unable to take this much pressure, one day he suffered a cardiac arrest. "The amount of pain he caused to my son, may he also suffer the same. He killed him day by day. Any failure and he would beat the child with a stick, a plastic pipe or an electrical wire. I pray my husband gets sentenced for his crime,"said Papiya Bhattacharaya, Biswadeep's mother residing in Delhi . Biswadeep was ranked among the top four table tennis players in the sub-junior category in West Bengal . There are scores of students around India for whose parents even the best is not enough. And tragedy like Biswadeep's lurks not too far away.

     There are many kids in almost every city, who suffer parental pressure. Everyday the children are living under stress to prove themselves. Not just in studies, but also in curricular activities or sports. "I have to rush for tuition as soon as I return from school. Then I do my homework .As soon as i finish my homework I have to get ready for the dance classes. Next year, I will take my board exams for standard ten. Both--teachers and parents-want me to perform exceptionally and this scares me about my future," says Chirag, a student of ninth standard. "As soon as I come in from school, my father asks me to go to the playground to practice cricket. The coach is so hard on us. He often beats us and makes us run many rounds. I don't like all this. I want to be a singer but my father wants me to be Sachin Tendulkar", said Rahul, a kid in Delhi . According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) one fifth of the children suffer mental or behavioural problems due to socio-economic changes and poverty. Analysts say in these times what is required is teaching the child acceptance over and above the drive to excel. "Life is a marathon race. The parents need to train their children to accept failure as a part of life. A child may not be a good sportsperson but he/she may develop an aptitude for something better in life. A child should be allowed to develop a good temperament so that he is prepared to become successful in future," says Rajdeep Sawant, a psychologist.
-Feb 11, 2007    

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