A characteristic
of youth as compared with older people who have been around and done that! is
that young people have an in built desire for instant gratification that
involves very little planning. Older folks plan their lives. Often this is out
of necessity with family commitments, responsibility, keeping up with the
Jones’s and ‘bills’ to pay.
It is important
that youth understand that they are fortunate to be spontaneous. Yesterday I
was at an event, and all the young people towards the end of the party decided
to go bowling. All of them piled up into whoevers vehicle they could squeeze
into and off they went. Remember however it is the adults who gave them the
dough to do so!!! The mums and the dads plied them with the 1000 rupee notes,
which the young thought nothing of taking without a word of thanks!
I quote one
example of a spur of the moment decision, to illustrate my point, unless the
reader is not clear on the point I am trying to make. It is important at a
young age to know these are moments to savor to enjoy and make the most of.
They do not return time and time again, and the older one gets, the more
focused one is, it is more difficult to be unpredictable in an exciting way.
The caveat to
the spontaneity is the maturity to know one’s boundaries. I am not advocating
binge drinking that many engage in just to be blind drunk, or to leap of a
bridge or anicut in a place one is not familiar with and possibly break one’s
neck. It is the adults who must give proportion to the behavior by explaining
responsibility at an early age to take charge or ownership of the decisions
that one makes.
The ability of
convincing whoever you want to join you in your mad escapade is also a sign of
leadership, one that takes tact and persuasion. This leadership must be
encouraged by parents to develop organizational skills. That is why
gamesmanship is such an important part of growing up. In society one has to
interact with all manner of people, including the most disagreeable ones if one
is to survive and get one’s way. Learning this interaction at an early stage is
a huge advantage, which many of the private schools and some of the leading
state schools are able to inculcate, and which is one reason parents go to such
desperate lengths to enter their children into these establishments which have
a proven record.
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