Hush Hush Baby

I would have liked to say ‘I remember faintly’, but I do in fact remember the event pretty well- somewhere around the summer of my eighth standard, I had some silly (did not seem silly then) issues with a couple of friends. We had recently been introduced to a counselor in the school and were encouraged to ‘seek guidance’ if need be.

I thought of the situation as a ‘need is’ and went up to the lady-our school counselor. Comforting and everything that conversation was, also, she made me realize that my concerns were petty and that I should rather pay attention to my books than, well, everything else!

I wish I could say, “So that’s about it” but it wasn’t. My class teacher, who also was my mathematics teacher called me to her desk a couple of days later, after the class had left for some other subject.
She asked me why I went to the counselor and made me feel really terrible and stupid to have gone to her, to share how I felt, and what disturbed me.

More than a sob story, this event brought an urge in me, a need to have counselors that can be trusted. Children already feel the peer pressure; they already feel humiliated with the idea of visiting a counselor. A child today, (feels) s(he) is smart enough to not seek advice, from anyone, in the family or elders, let alone a counselor. So in that case, the only advice these boys and girls are getting from is their friends – who are equally lost if not more. How does a sinking ship, save another? Leaves us to wonder.

 A generation so affected by social media, likes, and followers, “Yes, I am useless”, ‘I’m a loser” and a generation that doesn’t look up to anyone, not even the wall, I tell you; needs guidance. They need to know they are better off than the snap stories, and Instagram followers. Facebook they say is old school now.

These young adults have no one to share their feelings with(or that’s how they feel), no one to tell them a difference between right and wrong, they aren’t usually talking to their parents and God forbid if you try to sneak some sense into them, you instantly become the relative they hate!
Now how do you expect a child who is filled with varied emotions to pay attention to mathematics, or science? With each passing day, we come to the realization that these children are getting depressed, and the only way that seems like a solution is counseling, for both children, and their parents. It’s not the plain old generation gap now; it’s been decorated with the social media pressure.
Before we seem to leave tracks of the topic, I will urge every parent to talk, every child to talk, and every counselor, to respect the secrecy of every person- young or old, who gathers the courage to come up to you and vent.

So will you be willing to have a talk now?


Until the next time,
Mrs.A