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It’s said “Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate” and the word great can often have inordinate consequences on the immediate caregiver trying to mould the child into someone beautifully morale. The consequence depends upon how the child will behave after imitating the actions available in the environment. Caregivers in an advent to provide a perfect picture of a role model to their children often enforce certain rules in daily activities; through Literature textbooks induce feelings of good and bad or through supervision in the entertainment zones to try to teach the more acceptable behaviours.

Morality or moral sense is one’s capacity to learn the difference between right/wrong and understand how to make the right choices. Morality cannot be independently acquired and the child needs social experiences. It is a developmental process and is acquired through the years. Following Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, Infancy is a period of not being able to differentiate between the right deeds and wrong ones and avoiding punishment. In the Pre-school age as interest shifts to punishment, the school- age is marked by the “good boy/ good girl” phenomenon and there is a gradual orientation towards following fixed rules and in maintaining a social decorum. In adolescence concepts of moral reciprocity and utilitarian rules emerge thinking of the society at large while in adulthood the less reached phase of Universal Principle emerge where morality is based on a personal set of moral guidelines transcending mutual benefit.

A concerning issue in the generation of Netflix and online games is if the children are given the desirable kind of exposure or are the caregivers feeling helpless due to the lack of non-gadget alternatives. As children have duly shifted from reading fables in books to considering lessons taught by ‘Doremon’ and ‘Chota Bheem’ as more desirable; fierce games among peers on lush green playgrounds on being replaced by computer games in the 15.6″ screen have become the rule learning sources and since no more stealing cookies or pickles are an option due to quick ‘food delivery’ services available, the projectile of childhood development of acquiring a sense of morality seems to be rapidly changing. Parents frequently complain about the child having lack of fear of punishment, not sharing objects and not willing to perceive the bigger picture of good and bad in the environment. Since children imitate, what is failed to be perceived is they fail to learn to socialize with peers without a cell phone and social media since they are not exposed to any alternatives. The societal structure lacking playgrounds cannot be blamed solely. Adult caregivers in spite of their attraction to the gadgets (where on seeing a disaster even if helping, clicking a picture and posting on social media becomes more essential), need to figure out simple group activities at home and elsewhere where the child feels the dilemma of performing an action in a certain way, cause first-hand experiences seems best for adequate development of moral concepts.