Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan is a father to a teenager now - his daughter Aaradhya Bachchan will turn 13 in November this year. In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, the actor was asked to share parenting tips on how to deal with rebellious teens. While he offered long explanations on why one must not attempt to deal with the rebels, he also added that he is not the one doing the heavy lifting at home when it comes to parenting. He also added that his wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan does it all, allowing him to 'go and do' his work.
When Abhishek questioned sister Shweta
Asked if he has any parenting tips to offer, Abhishek said, “The thing is do not try and deal with it. That is life. Every subsequent generation matures faster. Maybe, when we were kids, our parents thought we were too fast for them. This generation has been born in a world where they have not seen the process it took us to reach where we have reached. I will give you a very simple analogy. I have a nephew and a niece and they were given a mobile phone when they turned 10.”
He added that he questioned his sister, Shweta Bachchan, when her kids were given phones at the age of ten. In turn, she asked him about the age when he got his first mobile phone, and the age when their father -Amitabh Bachchan - got his first mobile phone. “My sister told me ‘do you think he got upset you got a mobile phone at 22?' This new generation is better informed. They are born in this world (where the information is all at their fingertips). I remember I found it breathtaking when I first saw the Taj Mahal, but I do not think the current generation will be overawed (by the Taj Mahal) because they have seen it on the internet. They are not preposterous, they are just far better informed. So, their wonderment is not at the level that ours was."
Aishwarya does the heavy lifting
He then added that his wife takes care of it all at home and ‘allows’ him to work. “I have to put a caveat here - I do not do the heavy lifting at home. That is entirely done by my wife. She allows me to go and do my work. The point is, do not try and deal with it. I do not think the new generation has a sense of hierarchy. That was something we were brought up with. They are inquisitive… they are like ‘Why? Why should I just listen to you because you are my mother?’ They are far more informed, they are born into this era of information and technology. (So my advice is just) answer their questions.”
Abhishek's top parenting tip
On a more serious note, Abhishek added that as parents, we must respect the children's dignity. “The only parenting tip I can give anybody is never compromise on your child's dignity. Sometimes, we feel like reprimanding them because that is how we were brought up. That is how we were reprimanded and disciplined as children, but this generation is far more sensitive. Maybe because they have not seen the upheavals our parents or grandparents saw…If you compromise their dignity while reprimanding, they are just going to switch off to you."
He signed off jokingly, “Basically, in a nutshell, you can't do anything. Just give them an Ipad and (waves) bye.”
Source: Hindustan Times