In Conversation With Alia Bhatt | Riddhi Deorah

My next question is for Riddhi. Hello, Riddhi.

Hi Alia. Thank you so much for organizing this. It's a beautiful place and getting to learn so much.

No, not at all. Thank you so much for joining us. Okay, so Devi from you, I want to know what are your top five tips for parenting in the midst of a pandemic? So basically we like the last two years have just been unprecedented times. It's been very strange and especially one of the top conversations that we're constantly having is what children must be going through growing up in a time like this. So I'm really curious to know from you that how you think that's affected parenting styles across the board. But just share with us your, your journey and a few tips.

So thank you for the question. What I feel like my tips would actually be the same. Be the pandemic or without the pandemic. So pooping and the color of the poop changes. You have a tendency to blame yourself that what did I eat wrong? That the color suddenly changed. The second thing that I would actually recommend parents to do cannot over manage their kids. It's called helicopter parenting. So you're constantly hovering around your child like a helicopter and you're managing what they eat, when they sleep, when they wake up. And now we are so particular about the language that they speak. Like, you know, speaking English has become so important. So I feel that it's very important that we give them the space that they deserve. So it's important to manage, but not over manage, just like seeds, you know, like kids are like seeds. You give them the right amount of water, it's going to germinate beautifully. But if you over water it, it's not going to germinate and it's not going to be as beautiful as it is supposed to be. Third would be overprotecting. And when I mean overprotecting, it's very different from managing. Managing is like, you know, you're taking in charge because we have like, you know, such big hearts, especially mothers. We have this tendency of rescuing them emotionally. So if our child is actually failing at something, we want to rescue them. We want to make them feel that it's okay. You know, maybe the question was very difficult and that's why you didn't do that well in exam. So we're actually emotional rescuing them. I think that is something that we should avoid. It's important for us to let them go through those failures because that is what is so, so important for a child. Don't over indulge when we were growing up, we didn't get a lot, and now we have this feeling that, you know, I'm gonna give my child everything that I didn't get it. Also, for us to understand that if we cannot provide those things to our children, there's no reason for us to feel guilty, because our role as parents is actually to provide for their needs. You know, like clothing, food, shelter, basic good education. In fact, I'm of the philosophy that even if you can, you should try and not overdo it. And the fifth would be to understand that, you know, parenting is a lifelong journey. It's not ending anytime soon. Like, we still need our parents. Our parents also still need their parents. And your child is also going to need you. Because this world is so full of distractions, the only thing that can bring your child back to you are the beautiful memories that you can create for your child. Like, if you ask a child, what are we made up of? You know, the five panch mahabhutas, like earth, water, fire, air, and sky. Something they never taught in the school. So I feel it's so important for us as parents to focus on things that, you know, are really essential.

But thank you so much. I think I definitely learned a lot. Maybe I'm ready to have a child. And today has been quite a good lesson for me.

Our parents. Our parents also still need their parents, and your child is also going need you. Because this world is so full of distractions. The only thing that can bring your child back to you are the beautiful men.