Power, Privilege, Bias - Parenting hacks anyone?

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POWER, PRIVILEGE, BIAS- common words, eternal existence. Every one of us, irrespective of where in the power-privilege spectrum we fall, have been at the receiving end of power abuse at some point in time, if not many times over. From education to work spaces, hobby centres to academic circles, we all have dealt with unnecessary manipulations, biased decisions and subtle-to-overtly suppressive rules. 

With the unstinting faith and support of people around us, let's assume that we dealt with the cruel world and managed to hold on to our passions. I did it by letting go of situations that were biased against me, staying clear of manipulative individuals and playing by the rules with bull-headed focus. How much of the world has changed as my own children step in to education, art and sport spaces? Between me and them, several intermediate generations seem to have encountered situations not different from mine.  POWER, PRIVILEGE, BIAS - eternal existence. 

As I look around, I see several parents coach their kids to bend the rules or hop over another as a means to jostle in today's aggressive world. On the other hand, I also see parents who would rather move away from the system into a far-removed eco-system. I stand stuck between these worlds of competitive aggression and idealistic co-existence. And there are many parents like me, wanting to build kinder futures of nurturing communities but also knowing well that we will have to simultaneously pump our kids with enough grit to stand up to the aggressive world. It feels often like a narrow bund in a paddy field.  

And before I even wonder how to parent my children through this narrow bund, I must know what it takes to walk this path into a future pasture.  

It takes UNLEARNING - of power structures and misogynistic behavior that was normalized, of biases that were internalized and of hierarchies that stood unquestioned. 

It takes ACKNOWLEDGEMENT - of my own privileges, of my own power, of my ignorance of the othering. 

It takes SPEAKING UP when I am not impacted, when I may not lose out, when it is not a duty but a responsibility to the next generation. 

I might then make that tiny shift from balancing on a bund to building a passage.




Comments

  1. PriSeptember 22, 2023 at 4:18 PM

    I have thought about this. Thanks for elaborating it :)

    ReplyDelete

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