By Ravi Sngh Negi
The ICSE results are out and results of CBSE will follow suit. Parents want their children to be successful in life. Parents place very high expectations on their children. They want to fulfill their dreams through their children. The idea is that their children should do what they could not achieve in their life. Such thinking ruins the career of many children in our country, where competition for college and careers after X or XII level is much keener and parents have a much stronger degree of control over their offsprings’ choices.
Parents have a responsibility to assist and monitor children in making wise career choices. Unfortunately, many parents place a lot of pressure on student’s career options to the point that they impose careers on them. Parents go to this extreme with the best of intentions — they want their children to be successful in life. What they fail to understand is that their children may have different interests and values. The parent that pushes his or her child into a particular college and a career and subjects of their own choice may not realise the true interest of the child. Parents may be academically highly qualified in their respective fields but all parents are not psychologists and academic or career experts to judge the interest¸ aptitude and potential of their child in choosing careers and subjects. If children choose a career or subjects according to the wishes of their parents, they will have a boring academic life and suffer lack of interest, ultimately resulting in poor grades, which sometimes leads the children into depression.
Children have the right to choose their own careers and they have the right to live their dreams. A child can only know his or her interests and abilities better than anyone else. They know their subjects and areas of interest and, thus, can decide career paths easily. But, at this juncture, they are confused and pressurised. They may take wrong decisions under pressure and peer group influence. This is the right time for parents to support and guide their children in choosing their career and subjects keeping children’s interest and aptitude in mind. If they still have problems in choosing a right course, college or career, they should take the help of experts like academic or career counsellors.
