A school addressed issues like gender disparity, over indulgence towards children and conflicts between grandparents and parents in front of the child through a play to mark Grandparents Day.

Mahadevi Birla World Academy invited one grandparent accompanied by a parent to attend the event. After the skits — performed by teachers — the floor was opened for discussion with the audience.

The school did not want to sound didactic and yet drive home a message that some forms of parenting can be damaging for the children, said Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.

The occasion was the celebration of Grandparents Day for students of Class II, last week called: From Grandma’s tales to Google trails.

The programme was divided into two segments: in the first half, students performed and then returned to class; in the second half, the teachers took the stage.

“There are a number of things that children or mothers tell us about what is happening in their homes and some of it is in contradiction to what they are learning in school. Story telling or theatre is an art form where we can convey what we say without offending anybody,” said Ghosh.

One of the skits portrayed a grandmother being overly indulgent toward her grandson while ignoring the needs and emotions of her granddaughter. The boy was given access to a laptop to practise school work, while the girl was asked to fold dry clothes — treated as a chore only for her.

The play did not end there. The audience, comprising grandparents, were asked what was wrong in the play and a rectified version was then staged by the teachers.

“In fact, it was one grandparent who openly admitted that they had always considered sons to be the ones who carry forward the family name — but acknowledged that daughters are doing so much today,” a teacher said.

In the rectified version, as suggested by the audience the teachers showed the grandson being asked to knead the dough and the granddaughter was allowed to use the laptop.

Often “over affection” by grandparents can prove to be detrimental for children. One example is schools advising parents against junk food and at times, it becomes difficult to practise that in homes.

“It is obvious that grandparents will be affectionate. But when it happens against strict discipline from parents, it sends out contradictory messages to the child,” said Ghosh.

The child is either confused or takes advantage of the conflict between the parent and the grandparent.

“Conflicts between grandparents and parents taking in front of the child is damaging,” said Ghosh.

Parents, too, don’t stop and keep arguing which make children think it to be acceptable behaviour. “In classroom, we see it as an echo of what is happening at homes,” said Ghosh.

At times, working parents, both mothers and fathers are dismissive of their children or their needs because of the work pressure. Time is then replaced by gifts, which again is unacceptable, a teacher said.