Empty Nest

A few days back we went to see a "Kids" film. The Incredibles 2. Only two of us, me and my wife. I remember seeing the first installment with my son, some 14 years ago.

It was a great film then. And it was a sweet nostalgic trip down memory lane now. 

I think the second part is more meant for parents. Those experiencing the struggle of parenting at various stages. Managing toddlers, Doting over School-goers, Teaching "Take-it-easy" policy to pre-college kids, Being over-protective of Young-Adults and then... Experiencing the "Empty Nest".

The short film "Bao" before the movie is cute and weird at the same time. It is thought-provoking and after a while you realize that the Mom's efforts of keep her bundle of joy  to herself are eventually going to conflict with the priorities and interests of her off-spring.

Indians and our Eastern cousins have traditionally grown up in joint families. Parents guiding, monitoring and even controlling the lives of their kids is common. Parents of my generation dismiss the Dating and Hook-up trend as pop-culture. 

Accepting this trend as reality is scandalous to our conventional notions of Matrimony and "Grihastashram". But with shrinking Digital World the Eastern Paradigms are being subjected to a rude cultural shock and parents of my age are suddenly out-of-sync.

What we want is happiness and growth for our kids. But the path that they might take can contradict with our knowledge which is rapidly approaching obsolescence. They may challenge our sensibilities and our beliefs. So we try to impose our views. 

We want to protect. We want them to be happy without challenging our definition of happiness.... And we may end up consuming the identity of our kids. 

Like Bao's Mom in her dream. "Only way of keeping Bao was consuming him!"