The imprisonment of Chandrasekhar Vallabhaneni and his wife Anupama for allegedly abusing their kid in Norway raises a pertinent question - are Indians aware of the laws of the country they reside in? And do Indian parents treat their children any differently in the home country when compared to the country they live in?
Rajitha Vuriti, a a mother of a 13-year-old and a teacher settled in the United Kingdom, said, “I don’t treat my daughter any differently. My husband and I have always been strict with her, but at the end of the day we do reason out with her rather than dictating terms.”
She further says that laws in the UK are a tad different when compared to those in Norway.
“In UK, the government will not take action based on one stray incident. Furthermore, the child’s mental state is looked at thoroughly before blindly believing his/her words.”
However, she explains that being a teacher in that country does put pressure on her to watch her words while dealing with her students.
But it is not the case with Deepa Kulkarni, a mother of two. Her family was in the US for around 14 years before migrating back to India. Recalls Deepa, “When we were living in the US, I was definitely a lot more loving and less strict towards my children. In India however I am a lot stricter. But this difference has got more to do with the change in ambience for my children. I am strict with my children when I need to be.”
So is it a cultural difference between various countries or a generation gap? Dilip, father of a three-year-old girl, agrees with the latter. An IT professional settled in the USA , he opines, “I believe that Indian parents can be classified into traditional parents and modern parents. While traditional parents perhaps feel the need to lay a hand on the child to set him/her straight, modern parents believe otherwise. We focus on being strict with words and reasoning out.”