Parents – A Child’s First Role Models

I am currently on semi-vacation mode with flexible work timings. This gives me plenty of time to catch up on my reading. One of the books I managed to read was Abdul Kalam’s Ignited Minds.

With his simple, endearing writing style, Kalam’s passion for a better India comes across crystal clear in the book. Particularly, it is a wake-up call to us parents. In Chapter 2, Kalam speaks of the importance of the mother, father and school teachers as the child’s first role models. This chapter in Kalam’s book is the call to us parents to live up to being exemplary role models.

If you read the book, and understand the phases that can work towards “Unleashing the Power Within India”, you will indeed be astounded to know that being exemplary role models is really the first step to raising a generation of ignited Indians. This is a tremendous responsibility for us Indian parents. If the new government carries out its manifesto, India is on a path to phenomenal development. Our children and the youth need to be prepared to be the Ignited Minds that Kalam speaks about. How then can we do that?

Kalam sites hard-working, ethical parents and a dedicated teacher as his first role models. He implies that every child who has learnt important values through their first role models, has something precious that even the finest education cannot offer. So our task is to be honest to our role as parents. We need to encourage, nurture and instill the right values in all children. Let’s leave aside the bigger things like making sure our kids have the best computers or go to the best schools. All that will give us zero returns in the long run if our kids don’t have the values to hold positions of responsibility and lead ethically.

Are we doing enough to ensure that our children have the right role models around them?

Sharon Colaco D’Souza is a mother of two kids, a girl and a boy. She is a business management post graduate, and works as a content strategist for a living. She is passionate about home decor and design, and blogs at The Keybunch. Parenting is ‘that continuously-unravelling mystery’ for her and she views Parentous as a great place for parenting information, as well as a place to share her own parenting discoveries. She is currently working on a book idea on indigenous architecture and hopes to see it to fruition!