Attend to a child

I was fascinated the way children interact with adults in a social setting of a marriage, which Anna and I too attended. 

There were adults who were fully focussed on relating to their friends and children were hanging around or playing among themselves.

There were other adults who paused to listen to children, hear their stories and found pleasure to relate to and engage in their interests. Children guided their conversation. There were exchanges which children were welcome to initiate and guide The adults adapted their conversations to include children and their world of happenings. I noticed some children going to familiar adults whom they knew would respond to them comfortably.

This was an interesting scene for me as I believe that children would never be an 'interruption' in the gatherings of adults, if they are welcomed to participate. They would lighten the conversations with their  laughter and fun, which would add to make the experience socially uplifting.

The challenge for adults, in social gatherings, when children are present, is to refrain from making every conversation professional or business linked. There is a tendency to have a children's corner, where they play on their own and the adults continue their interaction with adults. 

There is wisdom in making social occasions as family times. Let children be welcomed to participate in social occasions so that family ties are established between families inclusive of children. There are families who organize neighbourhood family gatherings. This was common in one medical college campus  where Anna and I lived for some years.  

We are challenged by the addictive tendencies of children to watch TV, play games in the computer, surf the internet, etc. Most of these habits have an origin in the practice adults introduce to distract children, while adults are busy pursuing their conversations and do not want children to be present. So children too get interested in adult gatherings because they then would have unsupervised time on the net or watch movies that parents would not normally let them do at home. This is the way some children get indulgent which would affect their moral fabric.

Make children the focus of our attention at all occasions, when they are growing up. Let family life is designed to foster children's aspirations. When adults do this consciously we invest on children to imbibe sound conduct and character.

Who is talking about conduct and character in the whole debate of safety for women in public places! Women insist on their  rights of freedom and gender equality. While they are important, the seminal issue is 'how to instil values that would allow children to grow up to be men and women of sound conduct and character'!  

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)