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Is this not what "culture" is all about ? In the case of Indian cities - Delhi it is power, Mumbai it is showbiz, Bangalore it is hip, Calcutta it is art that seems to be the great ambition. Whether we want it to or not, the culture of the city seems to seep in through the walls and affect your being.

My nephew started college last year. When he was at home his parents monitored his Internet time. Now, armed with a new Apple acquired as a present and unlimited Internet access supposedly given because students have to research his head is filled with distractions. Every attempt at making him do some real work is refuted with something like - "but, this is archaic stuff - just pick it off the net from here" or "hey, give me a few min and I can grab it off the net" or worse still "someone stole my idea!". Absolutely no work and lots and lots of fluff in his poor head.

Exposing children to too much within a short time - which tends to happen in their teenage years as they become more mature - does overwhelm children. They may not have the mental tools and the feeling of not being able to comprehend or cope may give rise to negative emotions - guilt and insecurity. In the pre-teens and early teems, how information is presented to the child depends on the parents. The influence of the school, peer pressure, etc starts taking over pretty soon. While keeping the children away from everything in a sterile environment is not correct, there is nothing wrong in choosing the right time and place to help them learn. Finding out their reactions to various things, and explaining there could be many ways to approach something of which some ways are better than others, etc. takes time, effort and patience. As an involved, committed and hopefully intelligent parent, there are times when I have to resort to saying "Oh, thats a bigge thing - you will learn it soon!". To me that is not a lie - that is like saying first learn your A, B, C. then you can read that very colorful picture book and enjoy it.