Innocence Lost!

They're cute... they're adorable... they could get out of any serious situation by just smiling or making a puppy face at you. No, I'm not talking about dogs or kittens. Its all about the human off-springs! Babies or even toddlers are the cynosures of everyone's eyes wherever they are. They make no efforts to grab your attention but hey, can you stop just observing what they do? Put a baby or a dog in the bath tub with a bar of soap and you've got a great home video ready.

However, the halo above their head doesn't last for long. Suddenly you'll see a mischievous grin appearing on a perfectly angelic face. Something is really wrong. The little tot has been upto some big mischief. Its not that these innocent kids turning notorious bothers me. But the thing is that their parents are least interested to keep a check on what they've been learning and vices they've been picking up.

I don't imply that parents must impose military regimen to discipline their kids. But they shouldn't even spare the rod and spoil the child. I have seen instances where kids throw tantrums and raise hand on their mothers even in public places. And while the mother will be calling the child sweet names calmly and taking it all in face, the child creates a big scene without even having a sense of understanding. Taking a step further, the child lashes out at any other person trying to intervene and coax him to bring about peace in this already problem-laden world. Here, I don't appreciate the mother's 'patience' (is it even patience?) at all. Instead I would like to tell her that take this kid home and teach him/her some manners.

I did not have a spat with such spoilt brat to make me write this post. But mere seeing kids troubling someone else made me mull over this matter. When I was traveling in the train, today, a little girl sat next to a woman. That child, barely 2 years old, asked the lady to give her cellphone to her. The woman sweetly replied back that she will not give her the phone. To this the girl began wailing and demanding for the phone. While the mother effortlessly told her that she could go home and play with her father's cell, the girl wouldn't budge.

Well, not every other person would be polite and put up with some child's silly tantrums. Isn't the scenario not ugly enough addition to which some outsider questions your parenting and embarrass you among strangers? Why don't people teach their kids to be well behaved in public, while we care a damn that they create a pandemonium at home! While we all like Dennis the Menace, would we enjoy his mischiefs given that we step into the shoes of Mr. Wilson? Scary thought huh?

Watching kids talking gibberish, trying to act like some wise sage gets me infuriated. They're supposed to act like kids... full of innocence... crying at one moment and filling the air with their giggles the other. Finally, every child grows up and becomes like one of us with innocence completely lost in this mean world.