Actor Manoj Bajpayee offered his take on parenting, and said that in his opinion, children these days are ‘too cushioned’. In an interview, he admitted that he hasn’t been able to spend much time with his daughter, Ava Nayla, and said that in his view, it’s fine if children perceive their parents as the ‘villains’. He also said that children will resent their parents either way, so they might as well develop character while they’re at it.
Chatting with RJ Raunaq, the actor was asked why the current generation finds it difficult to handle rejection, whereas people from Manoj’s generation were able to overcome massive odds to succeed in life. He said, “It’s a serious topic, and one that I think about frequently. We cushion our kids too much. We’ve moved away from joint families to nuclear families. We live in cities, and we start perceiving our children as our trophies. We forget that the same child has to face the world, and that we need to guide them, teach them, give them the right tools.”
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Manoj also blamed social media for this, and said that when he was young, he would always be interacting with the ‘real world’ and people. “The lives of children are limited to their screens,” he said, and added that when they are hit by the harsh reality, they are unable to handle it and slip into a depression. “What’s the harm in parents being perceived by their kids as the villains? As it is, they’re not going to care about you when they become adults. Sometimes, even when they’re in their early teens they can ignore you while they’re sitting next to you. They will eventually move on from you.”
He explained, “Stop seeing your children as your personal trophy. Stop saying, ‘I love my child’ No! You are his parents, so of course you are going to love him anyway, but your love is ruining their lives. Because you’re being selfish, you’re not thinking about what’s good for the child. What’s good for the child is you drawing clear lines. ‘This is the amount of time you’ll get for digital consumption’. They will cry, they will argue, they will feel tortured, but it’s good for them. I’ll be the villain, but it’s good for the child. The child will hate me? It’s fine, it’s good for his life. You’re going to be the villain either way, so…”
Manoj admitted that he hasn’t been able to spend much time in the last couple of years with his daughter, who is currently enrolled at a boarding school. He blamed it on being busy with work.
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