Two days back, parents were up in arms voicing strong opinions about a clip that was making the rounds of the social media.
Shot in India, the clip had a teary-eyed girl (aged between 4-5 years) trying to read aloud the numbers 1 to 5.
She fumbled and faltered and was screamed at by a woman for her mistakes.
This video was even shared by some famous faces including Virat Kohli, who termed it ‘hurtful’ and even ‘abusive.’
However, the identity of the girl as well as the woman behind the camera was shrouded in secrecy, until today.
Teary-eyed girl’s identity revealed!
As it turns out, the girl is 3-years-old and is Haya, the niece of the famous Bollywood music director duo Sharib and Toshi.
The true identity of the girl came out when netizens spotted her videos on her maama Sharib Sabri’s Instagram page. And when media contacted him, he blasted them saying that they prepared the video for the family to see how stubborn little Haya had become.
“Woh video ek maa ka video hai, apne bhai aur husband ko dikhane ke liye banaya tha, ki bachchi bahut ziddi ho gayi hai. (it was a video made by a mother to show her brother and husband as to how stubborn the kid had become),” he explained.
He also added that they know their child best and people should not try to dictate parenting to his sister.
“Ours is a very stubborn child”
Addressing the backlash to the video Sharib explained, “Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan don’t know about us. Hamare bachche ke bare mein humein pata hai naah ki hamara bacha kaisa hai! Uska nature hai waisa… Agle hi pal woh khelne chali jaati hai. Agar aap usko chod do toh woh kahengi main mazzak kar rahi thi. Uske nature ki wajah se chod denge toh woh padai bhi nahi kar paayengi. (We know best about our child. It’s her nature…within seconds she starts playing. If you leave her alone, she will say it was a joke. If we let her be because of her nature, she will not be able to study at all).”
He also added that even though she is quite stubborn, she is after all their baby and they would never do anything to hurt her.
He shared, “In every house there are different kinds of children. Ours is a very stubborn child but is extremely dear to us.”
“Jab baaki logon ko bura lag raha hai to wo to maa hai. Ek maa ki mamta hai, judgement nahi kar sakte hain. Jisne usko 9 months kokh mein rakha hai (If other people are feeling bad, think about the mother. It is a mother’s love, you cannot judge it. She kept the baby in her womb for 9 months after all),” he added.
And he finally said that one cannot stop teaching and educating children just because they are stubborn or behave like that.
But while his side of the argument may hold water if the child is in fact, extremely stubborn; but assaulting the 3-year-old may also not be the solution.
Times have changed, so should parenting?
However, it is important to mention here that when we shared this story on Monday, many of you responded by saying that in our times our parents used to spank us and it’s only now that the new-age parenting is discrediting it as abuse and assault.
But we’d once again like to reiterate that just like everything else, parenting must also evolve and adopt with the changing times.
Where a 80s kid or an 90s kid might find spanking ‘normal,’ it may not be so ‘normal’ for a millennial kid or parent. So what are these new-age parenting techniques?
Well, read here to learn some new-age parenting techniques where you do not have to use any force or intimidation to raise healthy, happy and confident kids.
(All images courtesy: Instagram)
Republished with permission from: The Indus Parent
READ: How to make sure your kids are successful without being an overbearing parent