Recently I read a very disturbing article about a study conducted on 2500 children where 70 percent of them didn't know what is a sparrow. Well, 90 percent recognized McDonalds logo!!
Yesterday, I asked my three year old daughter where would she like to go for a Sunday outing. Not surprisingly, she wanted to play games in the gaming zone of the mall and eat at Mc Donald's. After we had spent an entire evening at one of the biggest gaming zones in the city and had our fill of burgers and fries, I sat thinking. Why kids these days crave virtual space more than natural space? Why the only association of a spider or a bat is with Spiderman or Batman? Have they ever seen a spider's web or bats hanging upside down on trees? Surely children are not responsible for this scenario. We as parents want the best for our children and in that quest, are we leading them to a lifestyle that is restricted only to virtual media? Giving them a PSP, IPAD, TABLETS should not be a substitute for playing in the neighborhood park with friends. Surely we don't want to raise a generation of technical junkies who have never seen a butterfly flutter its wings. As it is rightly said - Books provide information but knowledge comes from experience. Let them discover Mother Nature. Take them to the park to enjoy the birds chirping ,squirrels playing hide and seek and insects creeping and crawling . Let them climb a tree and scrape their knee, let them walk barefoot on the sandy beach and get dirty, let them dive into the pond and get wet. Don't confine their thoughts to a handful of virtual games. Let them be with nature.......Let their imagination take flight and soar higher and higher........!
I take a vow to take my kids to park as often as I take them to malls....do you too?- Finger Talkies.
