By Abdul Wahid Khan
Final Year DPhil/PhD student at the University of Oxford
Parenting is an important and new concept for Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral. Most of us have been raised in an event where parenting was not a well-thought process rather an art of experimentation with other kids in the wider family. Parenting is indeed one of the most difficult yet important aspect of our social lives but we lack proper material and training in this respect.
While I am not a parent myself yet, I have been interested in following how my generation us taking this role. Many of my friends in the Western world start with therapy- a process to let go of traumas from their parents and family life so it does not get passed on to their kids. While I know it is a taboo for us still and we lack the proper facilities, this might be a subject of exploration for us.
I particularly admire a quote attributed to Hazrat Ali (AS): “Do not raise your children the way your parents raised you; they were born for a different time (dawr).” I think this becomes even more important for our time when the dawr changes super-fast! We must not impose the norms of our time on our kids, which means we must take up active learning about the times of our kids as parents. Both of these points I raised are difficult but totally possible and one’s responsibility if they have taken up the responsibility of being a parent. There is a lot more to discuss in terms of gender dynamics, local languages, “culture”, faith, etc. that I hope experienced parents and educators will explore in our discussion.
Note: This piece was originally shared in a WhatsApp group and is reproduced here with the permission of the author.
