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.
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