Owing to the hectic work hours, urban parents fail to get involved with their child, on daily basis, as they are growing. Most of them go through the same plight. By Jigyasu Joshi
Urban India has a new affliction. Urban Parenting. By urban parents, the reference is on working parents in urban settings. They often get so involved in their work, that they end up having to comprise on their time out at home. When they are left stumbling for time to complete their own chores, how can they take care of their children, who, by the way, needs most out of your timeIJ
“Managing home and office is a task for us. We leave home in the morning and by the time we reach home, its evening”, said Aarushi Sinha, who is a mother and also works in a MNC. “We do get worried thinking that is the time we are giving to our child, enoughIJ” she said. Owing to the hectic work hours, urban parents fail to get involved with their child, on daily basis, as they are growing. Most of them go through the same plight. Another working parent, Harish Verma, said, “I always feel that I should be giving more time to my child but my work come in the way. This does worry me.”
In India, there are about 300 million children who need their parents to take care of them. The problem of right parenting, therefore, is not a small one. And, only if the parents are able to care right for their child in those days, it can make a huge impact on the child’s growth.
Many parenting blogs and forums have also come to the rescue for the urban parents. One among such is parentune.com, a pro-active community for parents. Nitin Pandey, founder of Parentune.com, explained to us the challenges they faced while coming up with Parentune.com. “In the process of coming up with a pro-active community for parents, we came across three major hurdles. First, parents wanted to be sure as with whom they are connecting in regard to their child. They were more inclined towards meeting like minded parents. Secondly, parents were not surfing in general over the internet. They wanted to surf for the exact questions concerning their children. lastly, they wanted validated information for their child from an expert”, he explained.
Ruchita Dar Shah, founder of First Moms Club, a group on social media website for first time mothers said, “It is not a new problem in our society. However, we have seen that working parents mostly choose quality over quantity. They want to spend quality time with their child.” Two mothers who run Kiddiegram, a website dedicated to the mothers, said, “After having our first baby, we realized that there are no options on the internet where all the mothers can go and find help they need. So thought of starting a website which can be a one stop guide for all the things related to kids.”
However, taking a separate stand on it, Anuja Kapur, psychologist by profession said, “It is not about how much time you are spending with your child. Whatever time you spend, should completely be dedicated to him.” Anuja, also an urban parent herself, added, “It’s just the way you look at it. Parenting is parenting. You cannot divide it in urban or rural and get away with it. It is an extremely important job. And, instead of a challenge, it is a responsibility of every parent.”