What’s in a name?
Daughter’s day brings out emotions in parents and we can see expressions of “My Princess”, “My Angel” etc. floating across social media. I am not sure if there is a son’s day. If there is one, there would be “My Prince” also doing the rounds.
When a nickname or pet name or lovey dovey titles are used on a regular basis the child tends to believe in them. Even Prince Harry of UK started believing in the media given title of “The Spare” and Prince William believed in the media given name of “The Heir”. Both behaved accordingly to the title given.
The title “Princess” conjures up images of a pretty young thing who people fawn upon. There are people who wait on her and fulfil all her wishes. She is protected and nurtured by the king and queen, the parents in our case. Slowly she starts believing that the entire world will be at her beck and call and will place her on the priority list. Same scenario for our “Prince” also.
When this pampered royalty moves to school, the child is in for a huge shock. No more royalty; the child is treated as a commoner. College and University is also no different. The royalty was never taught life skills at home and faces huge discomfort in the world outside home. Adjustment problems overwhelm them. When the time comes for work and marriage, you can well imagine what would be the state of mind for the royalty.
Indian prince and princess were brought up in a tough manner, keeping in mind that they will have to shoulder responsibility of the kingdom in future. We are familiar with stories of princes being sent to guru ashram and live life of a commoner and also learn the essential skills. Princesses were also trained in martial arts and warfare along with fine arts and other life skills. Maybe that is why a Sita and a Draupadi could survive in the jungles when they were banished along with their husbands from the kingdom.
It is easy to live a comfortable life when one has been trained to face hardships. Let us groom our kids accordingly so that they can take the rough and tough world in their stride without the feeling of being inadequate. Let us develop resilience in them. Parenting is a crucial issue. Once we visualise how we want our child to turn out as an adult, we will act accordingly. Let’s make up our minds. Do I want a dependent spoilt adult or an independent responsible adult? We can groom forward looking prince and princess who can shoulder responsibility of their kingdoms or we can create handicapped prince and princess. Choice is ours. Let us not regret in our old age on the choice we made.