Parent'sling'

It was the happiest day for the man who was loved by everyone in the company. Jayaraman or J as he was popularly known as, walked to the podium to collect his “Best Employee” award for the seventh consecutive year. The crowd gave him a big applause and a standing ovation. He welled up with emotion and as usual dedicated his success to his parents. Though this had been a repetitive custom all these six years, this year was special. He had promised to share his secret with everyone this year.

J took the mike in his hands and scanned the crowd with his eyes. With pride swelling in his chest, he shared the secret of his success. “ Friends, as usual I dedicate this success to my parents. You see, every individual is modeled into what he / she is, by the parenting that goes into his / her making. My parents were responsible for who I am today. It just seems like yesterday, the time I spent with my parents but today I am a parent of a successful young entrepreneur myself. I would like to share the concepts of effective parenting with you today. This I consider is the secret of my success.

Parenting is both simple and complex at the same time. To understand it better, I would like to explain it with the analogy of a sling. I guess, everyone here would be aware of the story of the young boy David who used his sling to defeat the giant Goliath. Now consider this simple equipment  – The sling. How do you use this sling effectively to make the pebble reach and hit its destiny?

Step 1 – Establishing the hold

The first and the most important step in using a sling is to get a good hold of it. A good grip will give you a subconscious confidence.

Age 1 to 9

The same rule applies to parenting. The first and the most important step in parenting is to get the hold on your kid. When I say hold, I mean the quality time that you spend with him. To get a better hold is to send a signal to your kid that you are in control of his life and he has someone who cares for him. He develops a notion that his parents are his heroes who have answers to all questions in the world. Shower your love and allow confidence to grow in both your hearts.

Step 2 – Embracing with care

The second step is to place the pebble in a correct position on the elastic band. This will help you to embrace and hold the pebble with your fingers better.

Age 10 to 14

Place your kid in the right environment. Allow him/her to embrace your ideologies. Let them learn things on their own; you just hold them in the right place. This is the phase where parents set an example to the child. The children get exposed to the world and come back home with lots of doubts. Always be by their side, embrace them with your care. Explain and clear all of their doubts. Your hold on them becomes better.

Step 3 – Stretch to the limit

The third step is to pull the elastic and stretch it backwards. Stretch it to its limit so that it builds up its potential energy. Be firm with the hold.

Age 14 to 18

The most important phase of parenting is this. Your little wonder now have his/her own view on the world and its happenings. Allow them to experiment with all they want. Guide them and be with them always more as a friend than as a parent. This phase grooms your kid to experience and understand good and bad. Have faith in your kid (because u have already established a subconscious hold and a caring embrace) allow him to go to the limits. But be with him, guide him, mentor him and be his best friend.

Step 4 – Aim at the target

Now that you have complete control over the pebble and the sling, aim at the target and position it in the appropriate way.

Age 18 – 22

The best phase of parenting is here. Discuss with your child (now a grown up) and understand his/her desire with respect to future. With your years of experience position their ambitions and desires in the right direction. The parent literally becomes a counselor here. Give them confidence, give them a positive vision on the future. Ask them to make decisions, you act as an approver.

Step 5 – Letting go

The final phase is to let go of the hold that you have on the pebble. Timing is very crucial here. You hit the target when you let go at the appropriate time.

Age 22 and above

The most important and toughest phase of parenting is the phase of letting go. Your little prince/princess is now destined to be the king and queen of the world. Let them handle the world on their own. See them from a distance. Admire the progress that they make without your support. Let them go, at the correct time. Many times, parents hold on to their kids too long that the kids become rebellious and try to rush through life with impetuous decisions. You know how a pebble that is let after too much of a stretch behaves. Some parents let go of their kids too early, and these kids succumb to the external world. Just as the pebble that is let go pre maturely, kids also will lack the energy and strength to face the external environment. True happiness lies in understanding and letting go of your kids at the right time. Sit back and see your son/daughter go places in life and hit the target that he/she wanted to achieve.

And as parents, you will be given this sling for the first time and will be expected to hit the target right away. Take life as a game, understand that every action of yours is going to affect the projectile of your precious pebble. Parenting is to be done as “Parentsling”. With ‘parentsling’ implemented correctly, we will be able to tackle a lot of Goliaths (evil Giants like Corruption, Poverty, Terrorism). Its time to be a victor and create one.

As J finished his speech, everyone in the auditorium remained speechless. They understood how much sense J’s talk made. There was once again a huge applause and a standing ovation. Just then, J took the mic in his hands and called out a name and looked at the last row of the auditorium. There in the last row stood a humble old man. He walked with pride to the podium. J happily announced to the crowd that the sling that had lauched J in this podium that day was this very man, Mr. Chandrasekaran, his father.