INTRODUCTION:

Meaning of childhood:

Ever since Johann Amos Comenius [1592-1670] published his Didactica Magna [1649] and John Locke [1632- 1704] produced his treatise some thoughts concerning education 1693 observers of children have been occupied with attempting to understand, document and comment on what it is to and what it means to be a child. the significance of the state of being after the end of infancy, experienced by all humans in all societies, has produced sometimes contradictory theories from philosophical, religious and scientific schools of thoughts as well as from the later established disciplines of psychology, anthropology, sociology and cultural studies. through out history, theorists have been fascinated with the distinctive character of human development, unique as compared to mammals in having evolved a lengthy period of dependency known as childhood. the 18^th century philosopher Jean- Jacques Rousseau [1712-1778] in constructing an ideal childhood, describes what he terms the age of nature as occurring between birth and 12 years. we can also say that childhood is a age of attaining total development as well as achieving optimal physical growth. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child defines childhood as a stage of human development below the age of 18 year unless under the law. childhood, is period of the human lifespan between infancy and adolescence extending from ages 1-2to 12-13. apart from all this childhood is a journey towards a foundation of a healthy personality and a healthy family and thus a more healthier society.

We can always assume that childhood is that stage of life where an individual learns all that he can so that he achieves a fully defined personality, or redefining this, a person is all that whatever he has learnt in his childhood as rightly said a fruit tastes according to the soil wherein the tree is planted it is sweeter on the basis of the nutrients the tree absorbers, secondly it can come into the use of human consumption if it is protected from the predators. thus can we say behaviour of a child is dependent on the environment he lives in. the company the child holds and the interests he nurtures.

What does growing up mean ?

Growing up in terms of biology is as different as growing up in terms of mental and other parallel aspects. when a child is growing up it attains various milestones. right from physical control, language learning, speech, touch, differentiating between tastes, people and finally knowing itself as an individual. growing up is a whole bunch of exciting changes that a child and the people surrounding it undergo. after all the physical growth is being attained a child also learns to be psychologically maturing. as it grows up it learns different values like sharing, being kind being obedient, honesty and also respecting his elders. one cannot probably deny the fact that this the best time to teach children all good values one can possibly teach. growing up can also be defined as absorbing all that a child gets into his environment weather it may be good or bad. a child always learns whatever he is imposed to.

21^st century children.

In the 18^th century families were usually labour groups and presents wherein each member was fully responsible for the income of the family. even the ladies including the children had to work to support the family. thus there was a smaller essence of emotional bonding, special bonding between the members of the Family as compared to the members of the family now. on account of the large number of the family several health conditions could not be taken care of. so there was no fulfilment of health related accepted, after mother got time from the labour work or the other courses she could than attend the needs of her children, even due to the lack of researches and reduced availability of resources people could not meet the needs of their family. many a times siblings were responsible for each other as the parents were busy earning for the family as had to support the family by earning individually. on the other hand the rich group had every opportunity. the children could learn and write literature, practice music and also learn fine art as per their interest. they had all the opportunity to practice their interests. with the change in the era and a lot of technological advancement children and the parents are more conserned towards the overall development of their children.

Children now a days are intellectually capable of doing things by their own and they have a pre-existing ability to face the challenges they encounter. they also have strong determination. they are confident enough to show what they have.

Understanding childhood today.

Growing up or childhood in the 21^st century is a totally broad phenomenon that is highly influenced by the changing civilization, advancement in technology and also the cultural influences. Since the pattern of life has changed family and parenting have also changed a lot. children are looked after very well, awareness about their health needs as well as mental needs are a top priority for parents today. as married couple prefer to plan mostly single or 2 children at the most, their top most priority is to give these children the best future and also invest a bit for there future. in short parents have made it easy for the children to pave a way for successful life only the kids have to put a 10 on 10 effort to easy there dreams. the 21^st century kids also have a benefit that they have parents who are educated and highly bassoonist about their child’s career. with all this comes hand in hand the benefits of technological advancement and also emerging discoveries that are helpful for the rearing of a healthy family.

A small family can be considered a boon as well as a cursed for the children today, living in larger families develops a feeling of belongingness, also developed values like sharing, patience and kindness and a life of discipline level of understanding in the children before despite of all this smaller family provides the children with all the physical facilities the child enjoys all the attention and care of the parents being the only one of the parent is always a fact of more consideration to the child . as also the society in which we stay has changed anonymously, we face a lot of competition in our day to day living. there is compition of developing physical facilities and also a compition to improve the standards of living each person today is trying hard to improve the standard of his living by whatsoever struggling to manage through the developing society. children nowhere stay behind in this run they too struggle hard to create a great position for them right from age we can see many reality programs that are meant to bring out the talent of the children. they also have an opportunity to show there talent by means of various multimedia platforms such as blogs, webpages etc. while supporting he economy was the aim of the family in the back then, now a days children have a greater opportunity to prove themselves and to show case their talents.

Globalization is also another aspect that is in beneficial to the children today, has brought a drastic change in the lifestyle pattern of the children today their dressing pattern, their eating pattern, the recreational habits have totally changed as the wide window to the world has easily opened due to the increasing development of internet and other facilities. most of the children have found their great past times in the cartoon characters

Challenges for the 21^st century children:

with the changing world many things around us have changed as an account of which children face a lot of challenges. due to the nuclear family system children have become less socialized they find more pleasure in their own personal spaces they rarely want to share their space with others. recreational habits have also changed a lot, previously children had mostly their time spent with outdoor games, like football, cricket, flying kits, playing marbles or playing idealized games. by all this they developed a mutual understanding and enjoyed togetherness. but now most of the things have become virtual. nothing in real pleases the children as games, people places all have been replaced by machines eating pattern has also changes a lot, junk foods have replaced traditional foods. these foods have developed an unhealthy culture of eating into the current generation that has further invited obesity and other health related issues

Internet has brought the borders of the world closer, almost all the boundaries have vanished. it is a good way for kids to grow have an access to the data and information worldwide. but constant exposure to the internet has bought hand in hand the problems like internet bulling, and also other social crimes. health problems such as vision impairment, hearing and psychomotor disabilities. Introduction to adult culture has also brought about tremendous changes in the society, children in a very young age are exposed to the facts that they should be. even this has made an adverse effect on the health of the children, the web world is filled up of things that the children should not come into contact with but unfortunately ways of life have changed. many children suffer from a weaker coping mechanism on the account of the adult culture that has been prevailing in the society. Children do not have a peer and a sibling bonding that has lead to an less emotionally attached family. children are focused more on the virtual world rather than the world around them. this era has seen the monstrous face of child abuse, weather he or she may be of any age or any gender respectively. children are no more secure and safe in world. internet bulling is also a major threat that he children suffer these days. internet cannot be called as a safer place for the children as well.

Skills needed to raise a 21^st century child -

On account of the changing world and the changing lifestyle. parenting is also become an responsibility for every parent. parents need to be more focused on the overall growth and development of the child rather than being focused on a single. every child is specially talented so it has become very important for the parents to recognise the talents of their kids and help them grow that way. children need more to be guided than to be supervised. bringing up an child who can stand the compitions of the growing world is the dream of every parents. they struggle to give their children the opportunities and facilities that they could not get in their childhood days, some parents want that their children should accomplish the desires of their heart. while some simply keep on providing the child what all the children want. the generation we live in is a totally different one, children are exposed to many situations that may be we are unaware of. they have developed a good sense of understanding i.e they can rationalize the things and events occurring around them the world they live in and technological advancement has giving them the ability to do this. no question is unanswered for them. many a times parents do not know by children know to operate complexed machineries as they belong to the century of DIYs. increasing exposure has always increased the responsibility of the parents. children need ethical and moral norms for their life now a days. Over protection, over care, restrictions may also be harmful at the same time. parents need to be flexible. joint families may be a good option for raising a kid when children are continuously under the supervision of the elders they develop moral life. cousins and siblings built a sense a responsibility and sharing amongst them. understanding the children, spending time with them also helps a lot, we because of our busy schedules many a times are not able to attend our children. at least on of the parents should be close to the child, sharing their feelings, opinions and having an healthy discussions with them also helps them to grow well. Parents should also be aware as to what their children do of the facilities they provide. for example the money, the internet access facilities etc. children should be engaged in healthy activities like outdoor games some time parents should be involved in the same as well. allow a child to emotionally heal it self by overcoming strong feeling like fear, happiness, sadness, loneliness. if the parent keeps on over protecting the child they may turn out to be mall adjustive. children get things even when they do not require this usually reduces the value of that thing. and children cannot decide the difference between their wants and their wishes. since parents fulfil all their needs without even realizing wewather is it realy what they need . due to this the children become stubborn. raising a single child is as difficult as ever. these children become self centric and isolated, they do not really want to share their space with anyone. at such times parents need to render an special attention to the children help, them socialize and help them to share their space by allowing them to indulge them with their friends.

Marital complications are also some of the problems that the children face, consistent fights and arguments between the spouses discourage the healthy mental growth of the children, many of the times children isolate themselves from the family, they begin searching their happiness in the outside world. many a times children are deceived in the world outside and they chose adictions, crims and and anti social activities as their option to overcome their lonliness. many children also become violent, or abusive and ignorant in nature. while some start developing an introvert and complexed personality. due to divorces children are forced to stay away from their parents either at the hostels or with the relatives where they face a huge emotional trauma. As parents it has become our prime responsibility to give our children what they need and also that timely providing emotional support to them. children do not expect parents to be over protective, bossy or ruling in nature but at some situations they want us to understand them and make ourselves freely available for them. it is the need of the hour to be involved in your child’s life.it is very important to boost the self esteem of your children. always appritiate when your kids do good. communication is must these days days you need to speak to the priority with your kids. a parent must be a good role model to his kids.

REFERENCES:

1. Jane.b.brooks [28 september 2012]. The process of parenting:9^th edition, Mc grawn –hill higher education ISBN 978-0-07-746918-4.

2. Bernstein, Robert [20 february 2008] majority of children live with two biological problems

3. Johri Ashish 6 steps for parents so your children are successful, humanenrich.com

4. Medical author: Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD medical editor William c shiel jrMD, FACPA, FACR medically reviewed on 5/21/2021.

5. https://www.cdc.gov.org

6. Grienerberger, J, Kelly K and Salde, A 2005 Maternal Reflective Functioning, Mother infant Affective communication and infant Attachment Exploring the link Between mental states and observed caregiving. attachment and human development.

Received on 30.07.2021 Modified on 14.08.2021

Int. J. of Advances in Nur. Management. 2021; 9(4):423-426.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2652.2021.00097