Tough games for the strong mind
Chandrika R. Krishnan
“Children these days are made too soft!” was one retired colonel’s remark when we were all discussing the various problems that youth of India seem to be facing. “These children are not taught to be on the losing end and as a result they don’t know how to tackle problems; that is the reason for so much increase in the rate of suicide and other related problems.”
The above remark made me wonder whether the previous generations were made stronger by circumstances. When I asked him to clarify his remarks, he had this to say, “We played lots of rough games, wherein there was no formal structuring; as a result, we learnt to play, fight it out among ourselves, and get along with others despite our misunderstandings and arguments. We had no coach intervening or giving us any parameters to play within. We also played a lot of board games wherein the person’s skills hardly played any role in the final winning or losing. Why a person who reaches 99 in say ‘Snakes and ladders’ can fall all the way to 8 or 9 in a matter of seconds. H/she learns what constitutes disappointment!”
Let the children be
When we go down the memory lane, we realise that most of our present strength has been due to some failing in our childhood days. We learnt that it was an impossibility to be on the winning spree all throughout. We lost some, we won some and we didn’t play some! We also learnt to give up our turn for others, for we realised that there were other children waiting for their turn!
This new perspective made me a better observer. I suddenly realised that streets very rarely reverberate with boisterous shouts like those generated by games like the ‘four corners’ or ‘seven stones.’ Who can forget the joy of jumping high to avoid the ball aimed below our knees and at the same time trying to find the various slabs to be placed back in the centre! Despite all our attempts we did manage to get a stinging hit by the ball now and then to bring us back to earth! We never had to diet nor worry about our calories for all those were burnt out each and every evening.
Structured playtime
In the present scenario, out door games almost invariably take the shape of structured coaching centres for badminton, tennis or cricket. There are of course some small pockets wherein we have boys playing football, cricket or basketball in school grounds in the evening hours. The girls invariably are not to be seen or are silent observers in most cases. In the case of very small children it is structured play-time in their free hours.
The addictive quality of computer gaming is also very worrying with children missing studies and going to the gaming centres instead. These games rarely have team involvement and the children become loners and listless.
Recently, I asked a class room of students about ‘scrabble’ and it was disheartening to hear that only a handful of them had ever played that game and some of them had not even heard of it! I cannot completely blame the children in this aspect. I know of children who thoroughly enjoyed playing “Monopoly’ after they were introduced to it. Maybe, it is partly the fault of the adults who are too caught up with their work and forget to introduce these youngsters to some of the pleasurable aspects of childhood.
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