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This is the twenty sixth article in a series I am writing for the JEANS section of 'The Nation'. The series is for children. Adults consider yourselves warned...you might re-discover a child within you! Scroll down for other articles in this series.
They get on your nerves don’t they? Parents, I mean. They are always making rules. They are always saying ‘no’ and ‘don’t’. They even put conditions: ‘if you don’t do
this, you won’t get that’ or ‘if you do it you will not get that’. You get it don’t you?
They always treat you as though you don’t have a mind of
your own. They think you can’t think for
yourself. You would probably remember
them saying day in and day out, month after month and year after year, ‘you are
too young to understand’. They are so
incorrigible that you ask yourself often ‘when will they let me be, when will
they let me do my thing, when will they decide finally that I am old enough to
understand?’ And after some time you
give up.
You decide that parents are impossible. You decide that they are way behind the
times. You tell yourself, ‘they are too
old to understand’.
Grandparents on the other hand are different. They are easy. In fact you feel that although they are older
and are relatives who should be respected they are nevertheless more like
friends. Parents are not friends,
though. Right? They are often like school teachers who
happen to live under the same roof.
Grandparents are different. They
don’t say ‘we know what’s good for you, so shut up!’ In fact on occasion they would even give you
something or let you do something that would horrify your parents. Grandparents are cool. Parents are not. They are parents. We love them. They give us things and take care of us. But they are not cool. Not in the way grandparents are cool.
But have you ever watched parents when they are with your
grandparents? Do you remember what
parents have told you about their parents?
They won’t say ‘our parents were cool,’ but they probably won’t say
‘amma just doesn’t understand!’ Even if
they did say such things it is not as frequently as you say it, right?
Something happens when someone becomes a parent. All of a sudden they realize what their own
parents went through bringing them up.
And at the same time they forget that they were once children who said
to themselves ‘parents just don’t get it’.
But let’s forget parents and grandparents for a moment. Yes, ‘a moment’. Let’s say this moment will last just 60
seconds. Let it be 7.47 every
night. Let’s say you spend those 60
seconds thinking about your totally un-cool parents who just don’t get it. Let’s say you spend the first 55 seconds
thinking about all the cool things they could have done but didn’t. Could you spare 5 seconds to think about
something, anything, that your parents did which made you glad that they are
part of your life?
Children are cool, that’s a fact. Grandparents are way cooler than parents,
yes. In fact parents might not be cool
at all. They probably deserve that
moment, though. Remember, 7.47 every night, ok?
Other articles in this series
It is cool to slosh around
You can compose your own music
Pebbles are amazing things
You can fly if you want to
The happiest days of our lives
So what do you want to do with the rain?
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