Neerja Singh
Is video-gaming getting too addictive disrupting the lives of the young? Is the virtual world offering a sense of security and accomplishment that real life is not? While gaming in itself is not really bad and is actually credited with improving eye-hand coordination and multitasking skills, the truth remains that parents must keep a watch on their wards so that they do not end up playing with their future.
Neerja Singh
For several decades now, thinkers and educators have been questioning the kind of education that schools are imparting. Education in 2021 is not very different from education in the 19th century. Even as the demands for readying our students for an unknown tomorrow are growing louder, schools are continuing to train them for jobs that no longer exist. And now, there is Covid-19; it has shaken the foundations of school education as we know it. At least now are we wililng to wake up from our stupor?
Neerja Singh
As parents and teachers, we all want our children to grow up into confident young people who believe in themselves. In the past couple of decades though we seem to have contributed to raising self-serving, pompus young people. As their caregivers, we must know when, where and how often we must intervene in our children’s lives so they grow up to be balanced in their lives. Everything else will follow.
Neerja Singh
Teen activism is here to stay. From voicing their opinions and educating family and friends on important social causes, the younger lot today is taking action to live sustainably and spread social sensitivity. It is time the adults stop and listen to them and also extend support where needed.
Neerja Singh
Many of today’s young adults live alternate lives on the social media. So long as they know when and where to draw the line, things are still fine, but when they get addicted to and start feeding off their online identities, it becomes our responsibility to stop them. And yet, when the online world is home to both the genuine and the fake, how do we know who really needs help and who is simply pretending?
Neerja Singh
The teenage years are primarily awkward and confusing. There are pulls and pushes and the teenager is also trying to find his own identity and is experiencing moods that swing from one extreme to another. It is here that parents and teachers need to do a delicate balancing act by not adding their own voice, by listening, and also by letting go.
Neerja Singh
What would be the long term fallout of Covid 19 on school children? Has the loss of structure disoriented them? How are they managing with their feelings? Open conversations and supportive environments will help to a large extent, but there is growing evidence to suggest that social and emotional learning skills will be needed when children are back in schools.
Neerja Singh
Too fat, too thin, too hairy, no hair at all, body image concerns are so real for young adults that they don’t think twice before going under the surgeon’s knife to get what they believe is the most desirable body. This is a worrying trend. Insensitive name calling and the ideal of beauty as portrayed in the media only add to the problem. Let us comfort our adolescents and help them focus on their inner beauty instead.
Neerja Singh
How much of screen time is good or not good for children? With digital devices everywhere and for everything, is it time to put the brakes on their use? Can the present generation of children do without them? Though these devices can improve learning, excess use can also be harmful and interfere with everything from sleep to creativity. How can teachers and parents help within these technological contexts, is the question.
Neerja Singh
Life for young adults is not what it used to be. Today we are living in the age of information and the popularity of social networking sites has only exacerbated the problems of living like an open book all the time. Teenage used to be called ‘the spring of life’; people were happy. But now, it is a dark phase in life and unless we take proper measures, we will lose our children.