November 14 is celebrated as Children’s Day in India. The day spreads awareness around the rights, education and welfare of the young ones, as per wikipedia. Schools and colleges across the country usually hold special events on this day. Looking back, things have changed much in the way it was celebrated before and how it happens now. Our life has also progressed given the technological advancements. Fashion Designer Anjali Phougat shares her thoughts on how things have changed for kids today and what she thinks today’s kids are missing out on.
“We come from a generation where we had almost zero access to technology. Not everybody has access to cell phones and technology has advanced a lot in this era. In the US it’s so different for kids as all the homework is done on the iPad. They rarely write, which is why I focus on this thing when it comes to my daughter. I send her to Hindu temple for writing classes so she can have less screen time,” she says.
Sharing her memorable childhood experiences, Anjali adds that playing with friends has been the best time of her life.
“I come from a small town in Haryana and we used to go to our friend’s house in the neighbourhood to spend time and also play on the streets. Here people don’t meet like that, we have to take appointments even for kids play day. When kids meet on play day they just play high tech games rather than games that we have played in our childhood. The technological advancement is really bad, it just takes away the innocence from children. We try really hard to make sure that only required access is provided but the Internet is so wide and scary that your child can do anything even within such limitations. Our childhood was so beautiful, we played outdoors with our friends, amid nature. That’s something I miss the most. I try to instill those things in my daughter and take her for long walks. We play in the garden, plant saplings and take care of the plants we have. Spending time with grandparents was so wonderful in my time but my daughter misses out on that too as we live far away and rarely visit India,” she adds.