TIME TO CHECK THE PRESSURE VALVE! – Unique Times
Pressure. This is a word that we don’t pass a day without. Today when we approach schools with training services, the most brought up concern is the building pressure and the need for motivation. They all admit the fact that most seniors are not trained or equipped to handle the next gen. Eventhough this generation is blessed with hundred-fold opportunities and hopeful technological growth, the unwanted pressure and competition mounted up on them is tremendous. We find this generation anxious and straying than ever. Today’s youth is tomorrow’s future. But there’s not many to effectively teach them how to handle pressure.
This starts from home. We are pressured to have a supermodel body and a superficial lifestyle. Most parents put humongous pressure on kids on their academic achievement. In today’s world, they need to excel in extra-curricular activities too. It is also a status symbol now to show that your boy or girl is going for badminton or football. It indeed is a really good that you encourage the skill development of a child. But do you help her relieve any of her stress that’s accumulating over a period of time? And thanks to the over-protective and spying ‘helicopter parents’, they do no good than worse. They dump all their insecurities in life over their submissive helpless kids. Thanks to the ubiquity of mobile phones too.
Schools and colleges, on the other hand, amidst the marathon running of brand building and filling seats, take least attention to develop the cognitive level of their students. Students are impoverished on their willpower. Will is just like a body muscle. The more you use it, the more you get exhausted. And the more you exercise it, more strengthened it gets. You need to know how well to use it without a muscle tear. Or it may cause a permanent damage. I have seen parents who lose it, between the pressure of stringent class reviews, extra-curricular performance times and tuitions.
There could be a situation when one of the songs is your favourite, and you tend to hear it over n over again. However, while amidst a party, when you suggest this track, one of the peer says, “oh, that is such a lousy one, let’s skip it.’ Everyone echoes it, and you mechanically say, “yeah”. This is Peer Pressure. When you try to confirm n fit in and decide to go along with the crowd. The same way, you tend to take risky decisions or experiment with drugs when you are in an emotionally charged group. Yes, peer pressure is a hallmark of adult experience. However, we doubt whether the competition has gone a bit too unhealthy that we tend to conveniently ignore ethics and values. The word “Principles” are long heard in the society. Peer pressure begins well before adolescence. The bridge between the upper primary to the high school can prove real tough. This generation confronts more than we ever did. Are they adequately helped when they enter into a deciding phase of academic life? When they enter into their very crucial and emotionally dominated teenage chapter? This generation is wired to gadgets, they don’t ‘look up’. Substance use is another alarming concern.
Coinciding with parental, societal, peer pressure, we live in a very perplexing age where media throws in very sexual, violent and extreme prepositions into the audiences’ brains. Social networks like FaceBook and WhatsApp cannot be filtered tolerably. News channels have become argument tables which misguides the students to learn that every ‘discussion’ should look like ‘argumentative fights’. Role models have changed to glamorized people who are popular and rich. Basically, pressure is building up, every minute.
There are evidence supporting that parental attitudes disapproving open communication about basic sex can cause adolescent mishaps. Most the parents are not trained to empathised or are emotionally intelligent to model a desired behaviour. The majority’s likings and ‘everyone’s doing it’ can influence your kid’s way of choices and behaviour. Confirming to the pressure to ‘fit in’ can prove detrimental in their career growth. Life should be taught in a simplistic way right from home. Let them see unconditional love, let me repeat, unconditional. We blame children for not taking care of parents at old age. However, how many families have taught them selfless and unconditional love? How would they replicate something that have not seen, experienced nor learnt? These disparities occur due to parental disposition and lack of communication. Parents can play a vital role instigating values on leadership, compassion, forgiveness, initiation, negotiating on crucial topics, delegating and team building. Strong parental love and care can help the offsprings to withstand traumatic and troublesome situations with ease. Keep away from extreme diets, wrong information and celebrity/societal gossips. Talk your child through it. Teach your child to respect and to behave. More importantly, ‘model’ it. Even when you drive, don’t show your kids those revengeful skills on the other car’s driver who just overtook you without giving you a signal. Walk your talk. Stop comparing. Help them achieve, win goals in life and reward them on their winnings.
Teachers at school should make sure the children goes through enough of cognitive developing sessions apart from their syllabus. Train yourself to train them. Self rejection, internal conflicts, inferior/superior complex, positive/negative ego, character building etc. takes place while one is growing up. Home and school play a vital role in moulding the society for good. We endlessly fall in this blame-game. But, take a step ahead, this time. Start from your school; Start from your own home.
It’s valuable to keep a friend who can point your faults. Someone who match with your values and back you up when you are in need. Seniors should help their kid to choose one. Peer pressure is not necessarily a bad thing. It helps you to analyse, evaluate and take the right steps. Also helps you to bounce back, and encourage you to compete positively. It seems like when you are with a team, the enthusiasm triplefolds than when you are doing it alone. Peers can influence you to take the right path. So teens should actively be involved in skill building activities, which provide stimulating challenges, which helps build strong positive learning in your brain. Youth can be successfully raised up teaching them how to handle pressure and win effectively, only if we care!
Dolly Neena
