Summer Vacation And No Mobile Phones.

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by Anusha2917, Apr 28, 2019.

  1. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    So I have been trying to recollect this. What did I do when I was a 10 year old kid when there were no "Mobiles". Reason for my thoughts are below.
    My 10 year old nephew (elder sister's kid) has summer vacation. My sister and I stay in the same city but at different locations .My nephew is totally occupied in his vacation. Swimming, cricket coaching, table tennis coaching etc etc.
    In spite of his busy schedule my sister feels " that summer vacation feeling of going to grandma's house " is missing. His grandma (my mom) stays close to me. But grandma is still in service. So for him to come n stay with grandma is ruled out because he'll be bored once grandma goes to work. Grandpa can't keep him entertained all the time.
    So what I do I bring him in the weekends (weekdays I run to office and can't ask my in laws to entertain him plus all his coaching etc he can't come) so that he spends sometime here and sometime with grandma. We went for a walk then did some swimming for 1.5 hrs and I involved him some gardening and then what next? He's back to mobile phone watching his superhero fantasy series. My husband scolds me why you are letting him watch mobile . I said until I finish my weekend work why don't you entertain him. He accepts that challenge and sits with him for some board games. Chess, word building blah blah. Went for 2 hrs. Then next what back to mobile. Then after sometime TV time (again those cartoons which I felt are super useless) he's back to mobile. By evening it gets on my nerves and I grab the mobile and say " no more mobile sid, it's enough ". He gets angry and asks what should I do I don't have friends here to play. It's true . The lad is bored. He has his friends at his apartment complex with whom he plays . Probably making him spend his time alone will only lead him to that "mobile addiction ".
    Anyway the point of writing this is I went back the Memory Lane to understand what we did in summer vacation.
    1) Go to grandparents house who generally stayed with one of the siblings of mom/ dad. .
    2) I was never the only kid. We were in gangs . Every other cousin had a sibling. And dad/mom had many siblings . So when ever cousins met in summer vacation there were at least 10 15 of us of different age group.
    3) No mobiles no TVs. All gang up. Played the whole day.
    4) breakfast was usually previous day's rice with curds, mixed in watery consistency and mango pickle . (called vadu maangai ) . We never complained of old rice . When it came from grandma they were extra tasty no matter what.
    5) entered home only during lunch time when the aroma of the sambhar and rasam spread the locality. Until then we never realised we are hungry. So engrossed in playing.
    6) ladies never complained of cooking for so many kids . That too for a month or more than that .This was their routine.
    Now we complain right if guests come and stay for a week or more and when we have to cook more and run to office. At least I have complained.
    7 ) Go back and play and keep waiting for that uncle (with whom we stayed during that summer ) to see if he's carrying any parcel in his hand while he returned from office at 5 30 PM. If he had a parcel then evening is a feast with all fresh bakery items. Freshly baked bun, Kara bun(masala bun) , congress kadlekaayi (a variety of mixture) , packets of rusk , oma podi mixture, fresh fresh puff ...what not. Ohhh my ...he never complained how buying all this for so many burnt a hole in his pocket.
    8) Dinner part. All the sambhar rasam cooked for afternoon meal were in excess. So grandma's job was the mix one round of sambhar rice and we kids sit together in semi circle and grandma and aunty gave one big ball of that rice to each. Rounds and rounds of that sambhar rice, rasam rice and curd rice. Happy kids because they loved extending their hands for the tasty food and kept looking if other cousins got a bigger ball of rice than them and happy aunties who didn't have to wash all the plates which otherwise would be the case if everyone were given food separately .
    9) sleeping time : sleep in a row on the floor. We never asked for beds. Lucky if you get a mat . Summers didn't demand any mat. We never complained of mosquitoes Two persons had to share a pillow. Then no bed sheets. 2 3 were given to all the 10 12 of them. Fight for the bed sheet until we had energy for the day. How the fight of pulling each other's bedsheet ended I can't remember.
    10) But I remember getting up next morning and continuing the cycle with grandma's curd rice

    Good ol' days .What a happy bunch of kids we were and now I go mad with my nephew watching mobile phone all day . How can I blame him when we have chosen this kind of a lifestyle ? Aren't we responsible for this with our "one kid policy " , "independent family " , " husband wife both need to work " ,"want to settle abroad "etc etc .
    Where's the time for a full cousins (with me having no kids and his other cousins staying in the US - nephew is left with no cousins for summer vacation time) meet up in summer holidays and enjoy that delicious grandma's food sitting in semi circle .
     
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  2. GeetaKashyap

    GeetaKashyap IL Hall of Fame

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    @Anusha2917 ,

    You brought alive our summer vacations! Lovely times they were, weren't they? Hmm... Congress kadlekai beeja, ompudi, kaituttu...ah! Life was so simple and uncomplicated, na?

    You have rightly presented the plight of this generation kids. We can't blame them really.:(

    Very well written, dear.
     
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  3. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    You had your row sleeping, and eating old rice plus curd in your day when there was no broadband. Instead of broadband, you had a broadgang.
    This poor kid has his mobile to play with; it is his summer, and he should enjoy it the way he wants. He'd write a snippet to IL forum in another 20 years, and say how wonderful was his aunty Anusha to leave him alone with his mobile, so that he could enjoy the cartoons, and stories on it. He might turn out to be a writer like Novalis who had spent hours on end in her lonesome book-wormy days, worming through books, contemplating phrases, and words, when her parents took her off to live in the deep woods of wherever that was... in some northern military barracks.
     
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  4. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Books! Creative hobbies!

    I see all structured sports which are dependent on other folks. Even chess needs a companion for a young child.

    Introduce the child to books at an young age by reading to them first and slowly taking them to the library or buying a book for every birthday.

    Creative hobbies - introduce the kid to hobbies that he can do on his own soon - painting, coloring books, music exploration, lego blocks, mechanical sets, origami, small pot gardening, cooking....

    Can his school friends get together a few evenings for a couple of hours and just let them be kids - jumping, shouting, playing games with their own rules?

    Cell phones are a part of life. Teach a healthy approach towards their benefits and not to be dependent on them. Be casual about cell phone use. The more you say "no" the more the child will rebel.

    Just my two cents.

    Well, I hear many parents say, "when we were young ... "
    That in my opinion is a wrong approach.
    What we did not know, we did not miss.

    I have heard my grandparents lament that I was listening to too much film songs on the radio, whereas when they were kids they had no electricity even.:grinning:

    So is it my fault that i grew up with electricity? I do not know life without electricity. How would I have felt if they said that i should study only under oil lamps because they did that.

    Were my grandparents not accepting that change?

    Also we all will always look back at out childhood with fond memories. Believe me, tomorrow your nephew is going to recall his childhood summers with fond memories of using the smartphones, when his nephews and nieces are living an even ultra-modern lives with gadgets that today we never can imagine!

    Same approach towards cell phones from today's adult generation is crucial if the children have to handle their lives in today's world.

    (I edited because I hit the "post" button too soon.)
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2019
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  5. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Thanks . You had provided new dimension to the thread.
    2. I agree in toto with your views. Sid can’t do anything better than that.

    3. His education, knowledge, time pass, indoor play & future all contained in that gadget not in gang or books like gulliver in brobdingnag or in Lilliput.
    4. 12 year olds are CEOs, internationally mobile because of their addiction to gadgets that includes mobiles.
    5. In changing times, feeding more mouths - new strains of rice produced with higher yields only to cook and eat instantly lest it get spoiled for the following night or day. பழய சாதம் பண்ணமுடியாது.
    6. Gone are the days when we had only floor and minimum personal effects. We had no dining table chairs. But comfortable sitting in semicircle on floor.

    7. None sits on floor in flats except for yoga! The comparison of life of previousgen with present and next gen stops here. One can lament for olden oldays.
    8. Old games both indoor and out door had yielded to new ones. God all play in computer games. Parama batham, Pallan kuzhui, dhayakattam,aeroplane pandi, six stones, all modernised digitised in new avatars.
    9. Activity based life changed to sitting on couch-life or sedentary life. When grandmas themselves are running to offices and clubs, and no good quality rice available for making “left-over-rice-soaked for use on following day” and cousins are in different coordinates, the olden day’s will have to remain old.
    10. My best wishes to Sid the OP @Anusha2917 (is it 7-1-92 ) and thanks to other feed backers here.

    God in temples with wry smile watching the proceedings as He stands modernised.
     
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  6. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:Quite true. Other points welcome in respect of young ones.
    Thanks and Regards.
    God leaks ideas through toddlers.
     
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  7. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    The Iyengar bakery holds a special place in our hearts..
    Thank you for such an encouraging feedback..:grinning::grinning:
     
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  8. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    Agreed.. And definitely his summer and he should enjoy the way he wants. This aunty won't take away that happiness from him but it worries me seeing the gadgets usage of kids.
    Kids are not in a position to draw a line where they have to stop it and how to stop it.
    The other nephew(from hubby's side) just completed his 12th with not so good marks. I see my SIL's husband (BTW does my SIL's husband become my BIL - just a doubt as I didn't get how to refer him ) struggling today with his engg seat. While I feel like telling them it's okay if he's not an engineer and he can do what he wants but I wouldn't dare poking my nose in others' parenting and their decision for their kids. Their regret is they couldn't curb his instagram/ facebook /phone usage.
    Well he'll do well and these marks shouldn't define his future .
     
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  9. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    My many likes for your reply. I have seen my second SIL take the same approach in parenting . Having said that I will not blame my sister in her parenting. .:grinning:
    Your points are wonderful and I'm going to remember them for my future use.. :blush::blush:
     
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  10. Anusha2917

    Anusha2917 IL Hall of Fame

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    This reminded me of the "thread ceremony " conversation we had recently . When my nephew turned 7 my parents advised my sister to do his "thread ceremony". My sister said they are not wasting their money on that. As he turned 9 my parents and other family members forced them saying "how it's important" to have a thread ceremony after being born in the caste we are born into.
    Now my take : those days certain caste had certain profession and the certain caste had to learn Vedas . And when the lads turned 7 , matured enough to learn the Vedas a ceremony was conducted to officially kick-start their veda learning. But now things have changed right? Anybody can choose any profession they want. Someone playing with gadgets will definitely (or maybe ) not interested in learning Vedas then why keep a thread ceremony to please the near and not so dear ones.. Just my thoughts. Lot of things are changing each day in this world so should our mindset also change...

    Finally they decided to do when he turns 11.
    I have no take on their thread ceremony decision. :grinning::grinning:I'm going to enjoy getting dressed, greeting the near and not so dear ones. :smile::smile:
     
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