Children should not be Expected to Behave like Adults

There is no one who does not yearns for the return of the carefree days of childhood – when worries and boundaries that concern adults had no meaning for us. And yet there are times when we forget this and expect our children to behave like adults.

• Remember your childhood and chances are that the first feeling you will remember is of freedom and care-freeness. Should we not allow our children to enjoy the same?

• Running, jumping, shouting, playing, what could be more natural behaviour for a child than this? Curbing these natural outlets of a child’s energy is same as putting curbs on childhood itself.

• Children are full of natural curiosity and wonder. But just as they get easily excited, they get easily bored too. Expecting them to sit quietly or concentrate on one thing for a long time is quite unreasonable.

• When children start fidgeting or making a noise, we scold them or threaten them out of fear of what people around must think of their behaviour. Let’s not punish out children for behaving like children just to make society think that we are good parents.

• The abilities of a child cannot be compared with that of an adult. With his little hands and feet and his small size, how can he eat or write or walk at our speed? With his small concentration span he cannot learn something as quickly as we do. There is a certain amount of time children will invariably take while doing something. So don’t lose patience with them.

• For a child, it’s more important to have fun than to keep his clothes dirt-free. Given a choice between splashing in a puddle or keeping his shoes clean, a child will choose to splash. Expecting a kid to behave like an adult in these matters is only unreasonable but also frustrating.

Childhood is a golden time. Its memories refresh us throughout our life. A little bit of patience, indulgence and most importantly, a remembrance of our own childhood will help us to deal with our children in a way that will ensure beautiful childhood memories for them when they grow up.