Reset Humanity! What every mother should teach her son.

Sharing a short story from my collection, which is selected as the first story to be published in a book to be launched at upcoming KLC 24 (Kolkata Literary Carnival 2024, Kolkata)

Reset Humanity!

What every mother should teach her son.

Woman is the most powerful person on this planet Earth. The one with the womb is God’s favourite and rules the planet. In raising children, boys are seldom involved in household chores. A child should be brought up like a child and not son or daughter.

Every parent should remember to inculcate basic moral values in both daughter and son.

A son should be taught to respect woman as a human being. Woman should not be objectified. A daughter should be taught to take a stand for her own self. Parents play the vital role. I am highlighting two scenarios of two houses.

 

Case Scenario 1

Typical patriarchal family, where man dominates and woman is expected to be submissive. The father hurls abuse at his wife, shouts, screams, disrespects and even raises his hand on her. The roles are distinctly divided. Cooking, washing, cleaning, looking after the house, in-laws, aged parents etc are wife’s duty. The man goes out to earn. That’s all! When he returns home, he expects to be pampered with love and care and does not contribute in the household work.

Children of such parents passively learn this. This has been happening since ages and women are made to work like animals for free in the name of looking after the household. His wife silently bears this torture.

In such a scenario, these parents are sending a strong message to their children. To their son, the message is loud and clear –that it’s perfectly ok to ill treat and disrespect woman. And to their daughter, the message is – in a married life, a woman is expected to do as her man says and should happily bear the torture and abuse at all levels – mental, physical and emotional.

Usually, in her defence, the woman sums up by saying, “The abuse of her husband is like prasad from God.”

 

Case Scenario 2

Educated family where both husband and wife live and work like partners. They contribute in running the household. They have all the chores divided. There is nothing like a man’s job or a women’s job. Children of such parents have seen their father doing cleaning, cooking, washing utensils, doing laundry helping their mother at all levels. Since, childhood, their mindset is tuned to respect each other as human beings and to contribute.

In such a scenario, these parents are sending a strong message to their children regarding marriage as an institution which is built by both partners in a loving, caring way. The woman as such is never objectified. To their children, the message is loud and clear. Running a household is duty of both partners. One should contribute in this as the goal is same to build a happy, harmonious place to live and enjoy. Children of such households are usually balanced and respect their partners.

Problem usually happens when children from one scenario find themselves in another. 

As a rule of thumb, the mother should cultivate the habit of respecting girls and women in her son. The disrespect should never be ignored or justified. Be it with his sister, helper or mother herself. Care at such basic level ensures proper instillation of moral values in the son.

If each parent, especially mother pledges this, humanity can be reset in a very short span of time.

 Happy festival vibes!

Love,

Juju