Thursday, December 15, 2011

Raising Kids in US vs India

I have been a key witness to see Indians growing their childen in US right. Definitely would be able to comment on some pros and cons.
I would say its not a problem to raise a Girl/Boy till certain stage in any other country because raising infants is a bit easier here I guess based on the facilities and etc.
But after certain stage, it will surely go out of parents control. Howmuch ever you control, they will have more exposure outside because of the schooling procedure and friends etc.

Pros and Cons of raising kids in countries other than India ---

Pros :

1. Kids may feel more independent in a positive manner which could lead them to proper maturity levels earlier
2. Studies will be good, not only bookish but kids will be trained in other areas also
3. Exposure to all kind of people which increased their ability to move with anybody without hesitation

Cons :

1. Kids may feel more independent in a negative manner and prone to some dangerous habits(mainly dating). This creates negative impact for our families especially in case of girls
2. They will not be able to understand the familiy ties and bonding because of living far from relatives. Note that the phone conversations and web cam chatings are not effective enough to make them realize
3. There is a danger of them forgetting the mother tongue altogether(although you train in whatever manner at home). I feel mother tongue is the most important thing to be known
4. Especially girls, Indian girls still have more respect towards their softness and attitude towards life. So raising in non-indian country could make them lose that
5. They might become ABCD(American Born Confused Desi), a regular term used here for Indian kids born in US. Its really a fact. Becase they will be so confused in deciding whether to mingle with Indian kids or US kids completely. They will not be able to balance the cultural shocks sometimes.

Also please note that there will be 10% exceptions in any case. So there are cases that the kids are spoiled even in India also and kids are pretty good in US.

These are all my live observations as I am obersing the kids here. FYI, I am teaching telugu here for Indian kids on behalf of Silicon Andhra Manabadi US.

Also one more recent observation is that most parents these days are prefering to raise kids(specially girls) in India once they reach 7/8 class. One of my colleagues has moved his family to India from US(staying after 16 years) just because to raise her daughter in India for rest of life.

Bottom line - Based on the pros and cons I have listed, I would prefer to raise kid in India after certain stage which will help them understand the culture and society.

P.S. These are just my personal thoughts only.