We want more
India is a child-obsessed, child-centred culture. Over 70 per cent of
Indian households have a child below 14, and one out of two households
has a child between the age of 5 and 12.
India is a child-obsessed, child-centred culture. Over 70 per cent of Indian households have a child below 14, and one out of two households has a child between the age of 5 and 12. The objective of life's work for an Indian, whether rich or poor, is to give his children escape velocity into a higher orbit of living.
Therefore, the low income group pays for its children to go to a non-government school and the higher income group tries to send them abroad for a better education.
The modern Indian family lives in a pressure cooker. Children have the busiest schedules, with no time to spare from being trained to compete in a world where the number of quality opportunities are few. Parents are very busy too. In order to fulfil their own aspirations and provide the social, intellectual and managerial fuel to power their children's life journey, they have to work long hours with hectic schedules, and that applies to stay-at-home moms too. The physical support of the joint family exists only for 17 per cent of urban and 22 per cent of rural households. Sixty per cent of Indian households are nuclear small families, with family size below 5, and another 15 per cent are nuclear families with one dependent grandparent. Parental guilt over lack of time spent with children, over constant pushing of not always enthusiastic or capable children, has resulted in an elaborate reward, bribery and guilt assuaging system that revolves around things.
Before the moral purification of consumption in Indian society, this would have been seen as a formula for a ruined child. Today, consumption is accepted to be the food of life, 'too much' is bad for you, but how much is too much is open to interpretation. Parents find new justifications for why there's no harm in giving their kids more and more. In another few years, even this justification will be unnecessary.
A five-year-old today most likely has a 30-year-old mom, whose teen life was shaped post-1991. Even a 10-year-old has a mom who was just 15 in 1991. So it's a jugalbandhi of consumption-friendly parents and children in a society where consumer confidence and incomes are doubling every 7 to 10 years.
Children are also much better informed than elders about things to buy because they are the repository of consumption experiences of several households. A six-year-old lower income child explained to us what exactly her family was missing out on because they had a TV, but no "cabble or dees"(cable, dish). Her mother said she learnt all this from her discussions with friends in school. As did an upper income mother, when asked how her daughter knew so much about cars and restaurants and off-beat holiday locations. Everyone's home possessions and parental comments on things are discussed threadbare. Parents know that they would do well to seek their children's opinions, because they are far more thoroughly informed than theirs.
Finally, to complete this potent cocktail, there is the hugely decreased power-distance between parents and children. Children are no longer afraid to ask, to not take "no" for an answer, to keep pestering even papa, and are agenda-shaping full voting members, often with equal veto rights, on how the small modern Indian family spends its money.
Rama Bijapurkar is a market strategy consultant and author of We Are Like that Only - Understanding the logic of Consumer India.
Therefore, the low income group pays for its children to go to a non-government school and the higher income group tries to send them abroad for a better education.
Rama Bijapurkar
Before the moral purification of consumption in Indian society, this would have been seen as a formula for a ruined child. Today, consumption is accepted to be the food of life, 'too much' is bad for you, but how much is too much is open to interpretation. Parents find new justifications for why there's no harm in giving their kids more and more. In another few years, even this justification will be unnecessary.
A five-year-old today most likely has a 30-year-old mom, whose teen life was shaped post-1991. Even a 10-year-old has a mom who was just 15 in 1991. So it's a jugalbandhi of consumption-friendly parents and children in a society where consumer confidence and incomes are doubling every 7 to 10 years.
Children are also much better informed than elders about things to buy because they are the repository of consumption experiences of several households. A six-year-old lower income child explained to us what exactly her family was missing out on because they had a TV, but no "cabble or dees"(cable, dish). Her mother said she learnt all this from her discussions with friends in school. As did an upper income mother, when asked how her daughter knew so much about cars and restaurants and off-beat holiday locations. Everyone's home possessions and parental comments on things are discussed threadbare. Parents know that they would do well to seek their children's opinions, because they are far more thoroughly informed than theirs.
Finally, to complete this potent cocktail, there is the hugely decreased power-distance between parents and children. Children are no longer afraid to ask, to not take "no" for an answer, to keep pestering even papa, and are agenda-shaping full voting members, often with equal veto rights, on how the small modern Indian family spends its money.
Rama Bijapurkar is a market strategy consultant and author of We Are Like that Only - Understanding the logic of Consumer India.
