Outsourcing etiquette

Early Burden

Personality development (PD) may perhaps help a child survive in the world outside school, no doubt. But is it necessary to make toddlers and kindergarten kids attend PD classes at an age when they should be having fun with ABCs and peekaboo?

A recent trend in Delhi seems to be emerging with ‘paranoid’ parents sending young kids, aged 5-8 years, to attend personality development classes in vacations! All in the name of a better and secure future. Just what do these PD classes entail is what Metrolife attempts to find out.

When we posed the question to a local personality development teacher, Sapna Sharma, who trains young ones in West Delhi, she explained “Parents come to us. The demand for such classes is really high this season. The world has become more competitive and people are getting more professional each day. Moreover, new teaching methods are being employed, so a child needs to have a winning edge over the others.”

Then rushes to clarify, “This course is not as serious or mature as it sounds. Here the child learns various things via new and attractive methods. We play games, organize role-play and bring out the creative side of a child in a very interesting manner.”

The system of education has changed drastically in the past decade. Now the child needs to clear an entrance just to get admitted to a plays­c­h­o­ol! That doubles the intensity of concern in parents. “Just a month back, I wanted to shift my daughter to another sch­o­ol.

It proved to be a real head­ache as every school was so particular about its admission procedure. Their expectations from an eight-year-old were so high and that pressure not only had an effect on me but on my daughter too. She started feeling scared every time as we entered a school for the admission test,” says Puja Sharma, mother of an 8-year old.

“Throughout the vacation, my son plays with street kids and learns absurd manners and gestures. I feel it is important to have a course where a child learns manners. This is the age where a child learns basic etiquettes.

This gives child confidence and a moral boost that helps him succeed in personal life as well,” says Sheetal Dutt, mother of a 7-year old.
Seems like everything else these days, even manners need to be outsourced these days. Whatever happened to parents being first teachers?